The Corruption of Magic
by LordBucketHead
Summary: Sequel to 'THE BALL OF THE BUTTERFLY' - Now that Star and Marco are finally a couple, what trials and tribulations will the duo face? What is the mystery behind the purple glow of Star's wand? And what will happen when they run into an old foe? As it comes together, it falls apart. STARCO
1. Chapter 1: A Dream of Mauve

**Hello again everyone! Thank you all for all the support and feedback for 'The Ball of the Butterfly'! Now we begin the next part of this story, hope you all enjoy it as much as the previous installment! As always, all comments are welcome! I'll shut up now, let's begin!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Dream of Mauve**

He stood in a fresh green meadow, surrounded by flowers of every imaginable colour. The wind whistled through the foliage, gently caressing the blades of grass and the leaves of trees. Petals flew timidly through the air, landing softly on the ground. There had never been such a tranquil setting. He smiled, enjoying the beauty of it all, basking in the glorious essence.

He looked up at the sky, and the sky looked back down at him. Not a cloud in sight, only the radiant majesty of the blazing sun could be seen in the baby blue sky above him. He shielded his eyes from the glaring yellow brightness, all the while enjoying it's subtle yet satisfying warmth. The sweet aroma of the flowers lingered in the air ever so lightly as the wind continued to blow, producing a calming sound for his ears.

It ended as soon as it began. In an instant.

The wind died, the sound becoming immediately nonexistent. The smells vanished, as if evaporating into thin air. All was silent, all was still in the meadow. At first.

Then suddenly the wind returned, although this was a different creature altogether. It produced a sound of unimaginable horrors. An ominous, looming sound that pierced his eardrums at impact. This was the sound of pain.

And then it happened all at once. The flowers around him began to wither and die in seconds, the once green meadow turning into a field of plant corpses. Dark clouds formed in almost every corner of the sky, the booming sound of thunder shaking in the distance. But the thing that his eyes were glued to was the once bright orange sun that graced the sky moments ago, surrounded by the storm clouds. Slowly, scarily, the colour of the sun began to drain, almost seep from its very being, as it was replaced with a new colour, just as bright, but nowhere near as comforting.

The sun shot rays of purple light down at him, encircling him in a dark mauve glow. The purple light hit the ground, and all at once the dead grass caught alight, blazing with what could only be described as purple flames. He was trapped in a ring of purple fire.

But that didn't concern him at this very moment, because coupled with the blazing rays hitting everything around him, they targeted him also. Purple light raced down from the sky and hit his skin, his arms, his legs, his face. And it burnt his very flesh.

He felt the searing pain of the heat melt away his clothes and sizzle against his body, the purple light consuming him in it's vast enormity. It burnt his hairs to a crisp and caused his skin to blacken and blister. Every part of his body was dying. Apart from his right arm.

Said arm just glowed purple, the same purple that it was being struck with by the sun. He felt his arm throb painfully as the glowing intensified. This feeling should have been insignificant compared to the pain of the rest of his body, which was scorching from the immense heat of the purple sun above him. But for some reason, it wasn't. In fact, he felt the throbbing more and more, it casting a shadow on his intense pain and hurt.

A solitary voice echoed through the dying meadow, soft but firm, strong but gentle, loud but quiet. It spoke over the evil sounds of the wind gusting around him and the roars of the purple inferno. This voice had no discernible qualities. He could not tell if it were man nor woman's, friend nor foe's. Just the voice, and only the voice. And it said but one thing.

" _ **As it comes together, it falls apart."**_

And then his arm exploded. In a blaze of purple fire, it erupted. And he screamed.

* * *

 _ **BZZZZZ! BZZZZZ! BZZZZZZ!**_

Marco shot upright in his bed, shaking and panting heavily. He felt cold sweat dribble down his face and onto his neck as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. The boy blinked a few times, causing the dreariness to retreat from his widened eyes. He looked around cautiously, his breathing starting to return to normal. All he saw around him was his bedroom. His normal bedroom.

He felt himself calm down, and Marco realised that his clammy hands were clutching the sheet of his bed. He let go and let the sheet fall down onto his wet, no longer shaking body. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to arrange his thoughts in his sleepy head. _What … what was that?_

The more Marco tried to remember the truly petrifying aspects of his dream, the more the memory of his dream disapparated. _So I was in a field … a meadow? Or was it a forest? I can't remember, but there was definitely … erm ..._

The Latino boy absentmindedly waved his arm to the side of him and managed to smash the off button of his alarm clock, the constant buzzing sound distracting him from reminiscing. As the sound of the alarm instantly ceased, Marco stared intently at his outstretched arm, taking in all of its features. He scrunched his nose and squinted. _Wait a second … there was something about my-_

" _MARCO DIAZ!"_

The sudden and unexpected sound made Marco jump up in fright and, subsequently, fall out of his bed. He hit the wooden floorboards of his room with a sharp _thud,_ his extended arm taking the brunt of the blow. The boy groaned tiredly, nursing his right arm with his left hand, wishing that he had a lock on his door.

He looked up at the looming yet bright and cheery figure above him. "Good morning, Star."

Star grinned toothily at the boy, leaning down and batting her eyelids, "Oh Marco, what would you do without me? Must I wake you up _every_ morning for school?"

"Okay, first of all," began Marco, as he picked himself up off of the ground, clutching his wounded arm all the while, "I was already awake, and about to get up. Second, you know full well that it is _me_ that has to get _you_ up every morning for school."

Star feigned a disbelieving look and waved her hand in Marco's direction. "Pfft. Okay, if you say so Marco." The boy chuckled, amused at Star's usual antics, which made the girl grin yet again.

Then Star remembered the other reason she had barged into the boy's room. "Hey Marco, have you seen Glossaryck anywhere?"

Marco raised his eyebrow. "Glossaryck? Won't he be in your spellbook?"

The princess shook her head. "Nah, checked last night after we finished those nachos you made us, and he was nowhere to be seen. Same deal this morning."

"Huh." Marco said, continuing to rub his arm. "Weird."

 _Things seem to be getting weirder than usual as of late,_ Marco thought, as his mind drifted back to that nightmare he had just experienced. It seemed falling out of his bed had completely knocked all memory of its contents out of his brain, as the boy just couldn't place what exactly had gone down. One thing he did remember, however, was that it was terrifying. _And there was a voice…_

His thoughts were interrupted by another, different and bubbly voice. "Oh well, it's probably nothing." Star said, seeming to let go of the mystery of her magic tutor. "I suppose it is Glossaryck. He does tend to come and go as … he … pleases …"

Star ended her sentence with a particularly large yawn, stretching her arms wide above her head. Marco formed a small smile at this gesture, his pondering over his dream abandoned. _She looks so cute when she does that._

Suddenly, a surge of playfulness ran through Marco's body. He grinned slyly at the princess. "You seem tired. Half-asleep, almost. Suppose it was a late night."

The girl ended her yawn, her eyes half-lidded from exhaustion. She nodded slowly, only half paying attention to Marco's words.

"Well, I don't know about on Mewni," Marco began, snaking his now-feeling-better right arm around Star's waist, causing the girl's breath to hitch. "But on earth, we are taught that there is only one way to wake up a princess from a deep sleep."

Star blushed slightly, the warmth of Marco's arm spreading through her body. _I still have to get used to this,_ she thought mirthfully, before donning a smile of her own and draping her own arms around Marco's neck. "Oh yeah? What's that then, Wild Man?"

Just the fire in Star's eyes when she was being flirtatious sent Marco's heart into a pounding frenzy. Nothing had ever seemed so … exciting as being like this with her. "Oh, you're about to find out." he grinned, and with that, he leant in, their lips softly connecting.

At first it was just a small, soft kiss that the pair shared to start off their morning. But as they stayed in that position, stood in Marco's room, lips locked, it turned into something slightly more passionate. Marco tightened his grip around Star's body as the kiss deepened, their lips moving in perfect sync with each other. Who started this, neither knew, but all the pair could do was enjoy this brief moment of passion, as both knew that it would sadly have to come to an end. Unfortunately, it ended in possibly one of the worst ways imaginable.

"Er, kids?"

Instantly their lips parted, making a wet smacking sound as they did so. Both still latched onto each other, Star and Marco turned their heads to the open doorway of Marco's room, and their eyes met a sight that caused both their faces to drown in a sea of crimson. There stood, wearing dressing gowns and holding mugs of coffee, Marco's parents. Rafael and Angie. Mr and Mrs Diaz.

It was then that something hit Marco, as he stared into the faces of his shocked, wide-eyed parents. _Star and I haven't told them about … about us yet._ Marco gulped. _Come to think of it, we haven't told anyone about us yet. It only happened last night!_

Star felt just as embarrassed, looking sheepishly at the wide open mouths of her surrogate family. _Oh boy, caught in the act. Looks like we have some explaining to do..._

While their heads remained firmly facing Mr and Mrs Diaz, Star and Marco's eyes travelled to meet each other for a split second. Then, all of a sudden, they leapt away from each other's grasp, and both began rambling all at once.

"So, you're probably wondering what-"

"You see, what happened is that-"

"-there was this ball, see, and we-"

"-Marco pretended to be my boyfriend for this-"

"-but then we danced under this big crystal-"

"-it all just sort of happened-"

"-out of nowhere, really, but-"

"-yeah it was really crazy, and-"

" _NIÑOS!"_ Mr Diaz boomed, seeming to regain his basic functions after witnessing the shock of the sight before him. Star and Marco both shut their mouths simultaneously, lowering their gazes and standing stiff as boards. Their faces never dropped a shade of red all the while.

Mrs Diaz cleared her throat, "That's all … well and good, you two. So … you are both an item now, if I'm hearing this right?"

Marco's parents both waited expectantly for an answer, their eyebrows raised. Star and Marco glanced at each other once more, before the Latino boy sighed. _Better to get the awkward part out of the way,_ he thought uncomfortably, as he took a deep breath.

"That's right, Mom." he said, meeting his parents' gaze. He reached out and gently grabbed Star's hand, surprising the princess. "Me and Star are … we're together now. We hope you're … erm … okay with that."

Star couldn't help but smile slightly, despite the embarrassing situation they were in. She gave Marco's hand a small squeeze. _He is such a dork,_ she thought affectionately.

Marco's parents nodded slowly, both seeming to come to terms with this newfound knowledge. "Okay…" began Mr Diaz, speaking at a snail's pace and eyeing his son carefully. "So … if you can just answer me one thing…"

Marco and Star both gulped, afraid of where this was going. Things were awkward enough as they were. The new couple certainly didn't want to start off their relationship by being interrogated and/or scolded by-

"Which one of you made the first move?"

This was something neither of them were expecting. They looked at each other yet again, confusion evident on their red faces, before turning back to Mr and Mrs Diaz, who were eagerly awaiting an answer.

"Er, Dad?" Marco began, dumbfounded by his father's inquiry. "What do you-"

"Just answer your father. Marco." his mother interrupted, sounding almost shrill and kind of impatient, which took the boy aback. He glanced at Star, who looked just at puzzled as he did.

"Well," said Star carefully, feeling immensely uncomfortable as she looked between the two adults, "I, erm, guess since I sorta kissed Marco while we, er, danced, then it would be me who-"

The princess never got to finish her explanation, as she was interrupted by Mr Diaz, who was …

… _cheering_?

"WOO HOO!" exclaimed Marco's father, throwing his balled fist up into the air in victory, slightly spilling his coffee all the while. "I knew it, I just knew it!"

Contrasting to this, Mrs Diaz had folded her arms in a sulking manner and began to groan. "Oh, put a sock in it, Rafael! Pure luck, nothing more!"

Mr Diaz couldn't contain his smug grin, not even registering the bewildered children standing in front of him. "Yeah, yeah, of course a _loser_ would say that, Angie. Now, I believe you have something of mine?"

The large Latino man held out his palm flat in his wife's direction, the cocky smirk never leaving his face. Mrs Diaz scowled and dug her hand into her dressing gown pocket, muttering bitterly all the while. At last, she pulled out a wad of crumpled green dollar bills and gingerly placed them in her husband's hand.

"Fine. You win. Enjoy." she said curtly, while Mr Diaz straightened out the money and held it up to the light, admiring his winnings. The couple's dynamic, however, was interrupted by their son.

"Just … _what_ is going on here?" exclaimed Marco, feeling extremely unnerved at how the situation just took a complete left turn.

"Huh?" Mr Diaz asked, stuffing the bills into his pocket and looking back at his son. "Oh, that? Nothing to worry about son, just a little friendly wager is all."

Marco raised his index finger to interject, but his father continued, putting a warm hand on the boy's shoulder. "What is important is that we certainly approve of this new relationship, and we are both very happy for you. Right, Angie?"

Marco's mother, who still had her arms crossed and a glum look on her face, simply nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Could have at least raised a son that will kiss a girl, but oh no…"

She began mumbling bitterly under her breath, to which Star couldn't help but let out a giggle. Marco shot her daggers, making the girl raise a hand to cover her mouth.

Marco turned back to his parents. "So … everything's cool?"

His father let out a laugh. "Oh, it is _more_ than cool, son." He put his hand in his pocket, fondling the money that resided there while his wife sulked. "Anyway, kids, don't be late for school! You can make out later!"

And with that, Mr Diaz rushed off down the hall, his wife trudging sullenly behind him. Marco, as red faced as ever, stuck his head out of his doorway. " _DAD!"_ he yelled at him, the previous embarrassment returning.

Star giggled yet again at her boyfriend's antics, causing Marco to glare at her for the second time. "You think this is _funny_? They were both literally betting on us and how we would end up together! Do you not find that so completely patronising, undermining, and-and-"

The princess effectively silenced the boy with a swift peck on the lips. She retracted from Marco, who was now looking dazed. "Shut up." she said, smiling all the while.

Star then jumped excitedly out of Marco's room and into the hallway. "Now, time to get dressed, Marco! We've got school soon, and we still have to tell everyone about _ussss_!"

She finished her sentence in her usual sing-song voice as she skipped down the hallway and back to her room. Marco groaned, once again nursing his still slightly sore arm. _If this is what telling people about me and Star is gonna be like,_ he thought as he flung his bedroom door shut and made his way over to his bathroom, _then it is gonna be one heck of a long day._


	2. Chapter 2: Corn

**Chapter 2: Corn**

The cave was a dark, sullen setting, brooding with connotations of death and despair. It was located deep underground, and therefore there was minimal lighting, giving the whole place an almost demonic aura. A foul stench hung around the cave like a disease, unfaltering. The only sound to be heard was the faint noise of squeaking.

Rats scurried around the cave, determined looks glazing over their eyes. On each of their backs they carried solitary cobs of corn, obviously with the purpose of transporting them. One by one they reached their destination, which was an ever growing pile of bright yellow corn, draped in darkness. The rats flung their cobs onto the pile and scurried away hastily, possibly to retrieve even more corn for the ominous pile.

Suddenly, a large figure swooped down from the ceiling of the cave, large wings protruding from it's sides. It landed on top of the pile of corn and studied it, taking in every detail of the mountain of yellow.

Once Bird had inspected the corn to her satisfaction, she gave out a loud _squawk._ She then proceeded to scoop up a few cobs in her large beak, and off the pile she flew. Down and down Bird spiralled, until she reached the ground, flapping her wings as she made her descent. The rats around her stopped briefly to stare at this action, until they caught the vicious glare in Bird's eyes. Immediately they got back to work, and Bird landed gracefully on the floor of the cave.

Bird spat the cobs out of her beak and down on the ground, them now being covered in ornithological saliva. Eyeing the corn greedily, she bent down her neck slowly to snatch up a lone cob, until a shrill sound in the near distance cause her to flinch. She lost her footing and landed face first into the corn, squawking in shock and pain as she did so. Looking around in annoyance, Bird scanned the area for the source of the irritating sound. All of a sudden it came again, and this time words could be made out.

" _It's happening again!"_

Out of the darkness crawled a giant arachnid, eight legs moving forward in a sinister fashion. All the rats scurried hurriedly out of the vicinity at her entrance, their job abandoned. Bird spotted Spider entering the giant corn room of the cave, and yet Spider was not alone. On top of her rode what could only be described as the least threatening monster ever seen on the plains of Mewni. This was a short, round-headed and beaked individual, sporting a large grey beard that was tied thrice at its end. In lieu of clothes, the little monster wore a bright gold chip bag, which crinkled noisily as he rode Spider deeper into the room.

In his hand was an object of great mystery. What appeared to be a rock attached to bone was grasped tightly in the arm of this beaked monster, and he was staring at it intently with gruesome yellow eyes. In the middle of the stone, however, was half of a star, cleaved straight down the middle. And it was glowing.

As Spider reached nearer the corn pile, Ludo jumped down from his noble steed and ran quickly over to Bird, who was still slumped on the ground, face smeared with corn. Ludo didn't waste any time as he thrust his wand under Bird's beak, causing her to slightly recoil.

"Look at it, girl!" commanded Ludo, his eyes brimming with excitement and uncertainty. Bird composed herself and stared carefully down into the wand. Into its crystal.

Purple. A bright glow of dark purple was being emitted from the wand's crystal, the reflection of which could be seen bouncing off of Bird's pupils. She squinted at this, the intense light slightly burning her retinas. Ludo withdrew the wand, and once again began to study it.

"What does it mean?" he asked, to no one in particular. He began pacing slowly around the cave, his eyes never leaving the glowing wand. He then sharply turned to Spider. "And you see it too, right?"

Spider only nodded, which caused Ludo to turn to Bird. "And you too?" Ludo asked, desperation thick in his voice.

Bird, who was still recovering from the sheer glow of the wand partially blinding her, squawked in confirmation. Ludo grinned as he turned back to his wand, and gave off a small cackle.

"Aha! So I'm _not_ going crazy!" the beaked monster exclaimed in delight, his sharp teeth flashing in a wicked smirk. "It must be good, right? I mean, purple is a good colour. Would you say purple is a good colour?"

Ludo stared over at his girls, who had now come together. Spider had, of course, crawled over to Bird, as the winged beast was in no condition to move. Spider looked at the wand, then back at Ludo, and simply shrugged with all 8 of her legs.

" _Pfft_ , what do you know?" Ludo grimaced, as his attention was drawn back to the wand. "I'll bet it means I'm getting better at this magic stuff. That must be it! Maybe I won't need that brat's spellbook after all."

The glowing seemed to intensify, causing Ludo's eyes to widen. Almost automatically, he slowly moved his hand over to the purple crystal, and started to caress it gently. Instantly, his hand burned in searing pain at contact with the half star.

" _Owww_!" squealed Ludo, immediately dropping the wand and recoiling his hand. He blew on it relentlessly in an attempt to cool it down, the burning pain starting to slightly fade. Ludo winced as he looked at the palm of his hand, and saw a slight burn mark where his skin had made contact with the wand.

Ludo shook his head. "Still remaining hopeful!" he exclaimed to himself, shaking his hand in a fast motion in order to cool off the hurt. He made his way over to his wand and picked it up by the bone handle, making a conscious effort to avoid touching the crystal again.

He looked deep into the glow of the wand. "Help me understand what this means." he whispered to his wand, to no reply. A few moments passed, and all of a sudden, the glowing began to fade. The purple light died down at a slow pace as Ludo glared at his wand in utter confusion. After a few seconds, the purple had completely subsided, and the crystal of the wand had returned to a steady shade of non-glowing green. The colour Ludo was used to.

" _Why_ does it keep doing that?!" Ludo yelled in frustration, causing Bird and Spider to look at each other uneasily. The little monster growled as he shook the wand rapidly, the irritation evident on his face. "C'mon, c'mon! Change _back_ , you stupid thing!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

As quick as a flash, Ludo's neck whipped round to the source of the unknown voice. Floating mere feet away from him was a tiny blue man with a large gem encrusted in his head, a stoic look on his face. Ludo got over the initial surprise and confusion, quickly regaining his composure as he pointed his wand menacingly at the stranger.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Ludo growled.

Glossaryck merely looked at the wand being thrusted in his direction with a bored expression, and then back at Ludo. "You shouldn't be waving that thing around like that, kid. It is kind of a dangerous object. Now more than ever."

"Now more than ever?" Ludo eyed Glossaryck suspiciously, and lowered his wand. "Do you … do you know what is happening to this thing?" The bird creature pointed to the crystal of the wand.

"Not yet." the small blue man said simply, and with that, he floated over to Ludo before he could react and plucked the wand right out of his hand.

Ludo's anger flared as he realised what had just happened, waving his fist in rage at the retreating Glossaryck. "Hey! That is _my_ magical wand! You give that back!"

Glossaryck stopped in his tracks and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning back around to face Ludo. "Look, kid. If you want to know why this thing is acting up, then I need to take a quick look at it. You'll get it back, but until then, zip it."

Ludo raised his index finger in protest. "But I-"

" _Zip_. _It_." Glossaryck mimed zipping his mouth shut. Ludo stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to handle this situation as the magical blue man turned his attention back to the wand in his hand.

"Hmm." Glossaryck pondered, staring intently into the green crystal. He licked his index finger ever so slightly and gently tapped the half star.

" _Hey_ , watch it!" yelled Ludo, the uncertainty of the situation getting to him. "That's how germs spread, you know!"

Glossaryck ignored him. As his finger made impact with the crystal, purple began ripple slightly all across the green half star. It faded as soon as it began, making Glossaryck's brow furrow.

"Okay. Yep." he concluded, more to himself than anyone. "That is definitely not good."

Ludo looked crestfallen. "Not … good? So does that mean-?"

The beaked monster was interrupted by the sudden electrifying sound that was being emitted from the wand. Purple sparks began to fly from it as Glossaryck quickly turned it away from his face. The sound increased in volume, causing Bird and Spider to cover their ears.

"You may want to take cover for this!" yelled Glossaryck over the loud noises. Ludo panicked and jumped behind a nearby rock, sticking his own fingers in his ears.

A huge blast of purple energy came erupting out of the wand, causing Glossaryck to shield his eyes. He pointed the wand as far away from him as possible. In the direction of the pile of corn.

The blast struck the corn in an instant, creating a large exploding sound. When Glossaryck opened his eyes, all he saw was a mist of purple smoke where the pile used to be.

Ludo popped his head over the rock, still slightly trembling from fear of the sounds. "Is i-it over?"

Immediately he spotted the purple haze in place of his corn pile, and rage began to fill his eyes. "You _blew up_ my corn!?" he yelled, giving Glossaryck a disgusted look.

If Glossaryck felt at all threatened, he showed no sign of it. He floated over to the mist, eyeing it with interest.

"I don't think so." he said quietly, and proceeded to blow air on the purple haze. It shifted position and started to fade, and in its place was the very same corn pile that Ludo had thought had been destroyed.

Except it wasn't.

Ludo stared in shock and puzzlement at the sight before him. What had once been a huge mountain of delectable yellow cobs of corn was still exactly that, with one minor detail changed. The corn was now all purple.

The rats began to timidly enter the room of the cave yet again, intrigued by the noise of the wand and the supposed explosion. They eyed the pile of corn suspiciously, noticing the change.

One brave rat out of the pack approached the pile cautiously, glaring at the mysterious purple corn in apprehension. Slowly but surely, the rat leant forwards and took one solitary nibble from a nearby cob, the other rats watching attentively all the while.

The rat swallowed his mouthful of corn, and for a split second his eyes flashed a colour too quick to be seen by normal eyes. Then the rat smiled happily, and began to dig into even more of the corn pile. The other rats, seeing that no danger had befallen their comrade, eagerly joined him in the feast, stuffing their faces with the purple corn. Even Bird and Spider scurried over to get their share.

Glossaryck watched this scene unfold before him, and shrugged casually. "Looks harmless enough." And with that, he tossed the wand back to Ludo, which had now returned yet again to its normal colour.

The wand smacked an unexpecting Ludo straight in the face, causing him to fall over. He angrily rubbed his head, picking both himself up and the wand. Looking into the crystal with wonder in his eyes, he spoke to Glossaryck. "So what does it mean? The purple glowing?"

Glossaryck sighed and turned towards Ludo. "Look, little guy. Both your wand and Star's are penting up some seriously powerful and dangerous magic, for reasons that I'm not going to get into right now."

Ludo, a confused expression spread across his face, raised his finger to interject, but Glossaryck continued.

"Anyway, the only reason that the crystal of the Butterfly wand isn't tearing a rip into the fabric of reality itself is because, you guessed it, the crystal has been cleaved in half."

Ludo looked at the wand in his hand, staring at his green reflection intently. He spoke quietly, "Cleaved?"

Glossaryck nodded, pointing a finger gun at Ludo. "That's an A for you, kid. The wand can't generate enough power or magic in it's broken state to do what it wants to do. And they don't like that."

Ludo looked up from his wand at Glossaryck, evidently lost at this point. "Who are _they_?"

Glossaryck floated right up to Ludo and waggled his index finger in his face, causing the little monster to recoil. "Ah ah ah. That would be spoiling."

Ludo composed himself and thought on Glossaryck's words, rubbing his beak intently. _Can't generate enough power in it's broken state,_ he thought slowly, tossing the wand over in his palm. _Wait a second..._

"I've got it!" yelled Ludo in excitement, jumping up as he did so. Bird, Spider and the rats paused their dinner in hearing this, looking over at their master in curiosity. Glossaryck raised an eyebrow.

"Once I manage to combine the two halfs of the wand," began Ludo as he paced quickly around the cave, brimming with anticipation, " _I_ will have control over all of this dangerous magical energy and power. Enough power to become the most powerful creature in _existence_!"

Ludo let out a malicious cackle, an evil grin spread across his beak. Glossaryck nodded slowly, floating delicately in position. "Hey, if that's what you wanna do, I can't stop ya. Good luck with that."

Glossaryck began to float off towards the roof of the cave, before Ludo shouted out at him. "Hey! Wait!" The blue man turned around to meet a malevolent smirk on Ludo's face. "You think I'm letting you go that easily? You know far too much, whatever-your-name-is. And you need silencing."

Ludo pointed his wand at Glossaryck, grasping onto the bone hilt tightly. He growled in anger, causing green magic to bubble up in the crystal. Glossaryck sighed.

"Kid, for things to move along, there is another place I need to be right now. So can we just skip this part?"

Ludo smirked evilly. "Oh, I don't think so. Prepare to face destruction!"

In one large motion, Ludo recoiled his wand before giving it a big final thrust in Glossaryck's direction, the bird creature screaming maniacally all the while. Unfortunately for Ludo, things didn't pan out in the way he had expected them too.

Instead of a powerful green beam of energy being shot at Glossaryck, the energy bubbling from the wand collapsed on itself, causing a large green explosion that sent Ludo flying backwards. He was slammed against the wall of the cave and tumbled down to the ground ungracefully, ouches and groans escaping his beak all the while.

Glossaryck watched all of this transpire, a bored expression gracing his face. "Yeahhhh … so, I'm gonna … go. Yeah."

Glossaryck clapped his hands together, and all in an instant disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. Ludo grumbled in pain as he lifted his head, his eyesight dazed and blurry.

He managed to get himself to his feet, head still pounding as he did so. Angrily, he glared at the wand in his hand. "Stupid piece of trash." he hissed.

Wiping the dust from his chip bag, Ludo walked back out to the centre of the cave, staring at the pile of purple corn. Bird, Spider and the rats had eaten their full, and had now resorted to taking a post-meal nap besides the mountain of cobs. Ludo smiled wickedly.

"Oh, but you won't be a stupid piece of trash for long, will you?" he grinned hungrily, holding his wand tightly in both hands. The wand once again began to glow with the strong shade of purple, subtlely lighting up the previously dark cave. "Once I pay a certain princess a visit."


	3. Chapter 3: School Reunion

**Chapter 3: School Reunion**

"Aw man, I don't know about this Star…"

It was a rather peaceful, tranquil day. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping merrily, and Star and Marco were walking up the stone steps to the entrance of the looming Echo Creek Academy. This was the duo's usual weekday morning routine, and therefore there was nothing out of the ordinary. Except for one key detail.

Star and Marco were walking together whilst holding hands.

Just the feeling of Star's soft warm hand sent a fuzzy feeling through Marco's entire body, but as of right now, that was not what was making him feel nervous and jittery. The culprit for this crime was the sheer fact that displaying and declaring openly to the school their new relationship made Marco feel a combination of flustered, embarrassed, uncomfortable and a little queasy.

There would no doubt be a bombardment of questions once they had entered the school, followed by awkward and uncomfortable conversations about the new couple. And while Marco wasn't a complete social nightmare anymore since Star came into his life, the thought of these types of sensitive and awkward situations did not sit well with the boy. For the longest time he had always made a conscious effort to avoid these types of circumstances, and now he was just rushing straight into one. _No wonder I feel so uneasy,_ thought Marco, tugging the collar of his hoodie nervously. _I am completely out of my comfort zone here._

Whenever Marco was in these awkward situations, he tended to … sweat. A lot. And the boy really did not want to soak his clothes on the first day of being Star's new boyfriend. _The fact that the sun is scorching this morning isn't exactly a helping factor either,_ Marco thought bitterly. Suddenly, his thought process crashed to a halt. _Wait a minute … scorching sun?_

Something about that particular phrase irked Marco, and he could not for the life of him tell why. It was like a memory in his head that just didn't exist. They were just two words, two totally normal words. And yet, just the mere thought of them in his head filled him with a sense of dread and unease. Far worse unease than he had felt just moments ago at the prospect of potential embarrassment.

Marco frowned slightly. _Is this … fear?_

Marco's internal line of inquiries was cut short by Star giving his hand a small squeeze. Catapulted out of his daydream, Marco turned to face his girlfriend, who was giving him a cute little warm smile.

"Don't worry Marco, we will be fine." she said soothingly, a little red dusting her cheeks. "I'm sure everyone will be really happy for us! You know as well as I do that our friends have wanted this to happen for a while now."

Marco scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, avoiding Star's gaze. "Yeah, I kn-know S-Star, but the thing is … see, it's like …"

 _Oh no, I'm completely choking,_ thought Marco anxiously, while Star gave him a confused look. _Just don't want to say the wrong thing here, Diaz._

The Latino boy took a deep breath. "See, Star, people are gonna see us … holding, y'know, hands and stuff, and they'll just attack us with a lot of .. uh … attention."

Star continued to stare at him. She spoke timidly, "And what's wrong with that?"

Marco gulped. "Well, it'll be kinda, er … awkward. You know what I m-mean? All the questions we'll be asked and stuff, it just makes me feel … a little uncomfortable."

Marco concluded, feeling like he did a less than adequate job of explaining his feelings. Star just stared still, looking right into Marco's eyes. Her face was unreadable for once, which made the boy feel even more restless.

Finally, Star's eyes shifted from Marco's and down to her feet, a sad expression gracing her face. "Oh, I see…" she spoke quietly, a sound that broke Marco's heart. She loosened her grasp on his hand and let it fall to his side. "You don't want us to be seen holding hands, do you?"

Marco panicked. This was the _exact_ interpretation of his words that he had wanted to avoid. He tried to deny Star's claims, but unfortunately his throat was dry to the bone. All the boy could produce was a sort of croaking sound.

Star looked back up at him, sorrow filling her eyes. "Just say it, Marco. Are you embarrassed of me or something?"

The princess' pupils grew large and warbly, and Marco feared that she was on the verge of tears. He composed himself as quickly as he could. _I can berate myself for acting like the world's biggest idiot later. Right now I have to clean up my stupid mess … again …_

Marco waved his hands quickly, the desperation evident in his eyes. " _No no no no no no_! That's _not_ what I meant _at all_ , Star! You know I would _never_ be embarrassed of you!"

Star continued to look at Marco sadly, her eyes now glazing over. "Then why w-won't you hold my h-hand in public?"

Marco mentally slapped himself for ever bringing this up. His eyes darted about desperately while he tried to put his thoughts into words. "It's just that - you know that - well it's because -"

Marco was feeling too anxious and panicky to form a straight sentence. He just looked into Star's sorrowful eyes. Her _beautiful_ blue eyes...

Marco shook his head. _What am I doing?_ he thought to himself in alarm _. Am I really gonna make such a big deal over a little hand holding? Look at how upset you have made Star, you dumb idiot! You can just do this little thing for her. Whatever makes her happy, Marco. Anything to see her smile._

He reached out and took Star's hand yet again, causing the princess' eyes to slightly widen. She looked up at Marco, who had now calmed down immensely, and was giving Star a warm smile of his own.

"Sorry about that, Star." he said earnestly, feeling the guilt and shame swim around the pit of his stomach. "I was just having a little 'Marco Moment' is all, don't take any notice of me. I was being stupid."

He gave Star's hand a squeeze. "Of _course_ we can hold hands. I'm proud to show off my amazing new girlfriend to everyone."

Marco felt a bit corny adding that last bit, but he really did not want to be the cause of Star's grief and pain ever again. _Not after the Ball._

Star looked down at her hand, at her fingers gently intertwined with Marco's, and then back up at the boy himself. Into his chocolate brown eyes. _He might just have to be the most adorable thing ever,_ she thought happily, her cheeks starting to feel warm. _Worked like a charm._

She blinked, and all at once her expression changed. Her face went from sad and pitiful to happy and excited all in a fraction of a second. Her eyes became wide and bubbly again and her smile stretched out right across her face.

"Great! Let's boogie!"

Star yanked Marco's hand forward as she skipped merrily up to the front doors of the Academy, not a care in the world suddenly. Marco donned a look of complete perplexion at Star's sudden and fast turn-around as he was dragged along to the school entrance. And then a thought occurred to him. _Wait a second … did she just..?_

Marco chuckled to himself lightly, feeling a mixture of relief and slight annoyance. _Oh boy. I can't believe you fell for the old puppy-dog eyes trick again, Diaz. You are one foolish kid._

He couldn't stay annoyed for long though. Just seeing Star back to her excited and boisterous self was enough to make Marco grin with mirth. _Anything to see her smile,_ he thought warmly, as the pair barged through the front entrance of Echo Creek Academy.

* * *

The hallways of the school were your fairly common high school hallways. Straight paths, the occasional door to a classroom. Lockers decorated the walls of the hallway all along the sides, seeming never ending. Picture frames of certain teachers or class awards hung daintily above them, showing off achievement or authority. But it wasn't this basic setting that made Marco's stomach feel knotted. It was the people.

It was still approximately twenty minutes until first period began, and therefore the hallways were jampacked with bored, dread-filled students who had nowhere better to be. Whether they were leant against lockers chatting idly to their friends or taking a leisurely stroll around the school, they were there. A hundred eyes and just one Marco.

As the couple walked slowly down the hallway, hand in hand, Marco began to notice subtle glances his way from his peers that surrounded him. And then they became not so subtle. Continuing to walk, Marco noticed more and more the glares and stares of various students, eyes dropping from his face to his hand. To his and Star's hands.

The faint sound of whispering became apparent in Marco's eardrums as he heard the nosey chatter of the people around him. At first he couldn't make out what they were saying, but the more he and Star walked, the less courteous the other students became.

"Is that Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz?"

"Are those two, like, a thing now?"

"How did he manage to pull that off?"

"I knew this was coming. It was so obvious."

"They're holding hands! Look!"

"You owe me 5 bucks, man."

Soon almost every eye was on Star and Marco, and the only noise that could be heard was the increasing sound of whispers and hushed conversations. Marco tried his best to avoid eye contact with anyone, feeling the embarrassment of all of this unwanted attention resonate in his chest.

"Hey," came Star's voice, and Marco turned to face her. He was greeted with a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about them." she whispered to him quietly, and Marco saw that everlasting fire burn in her baby blue eyes. "They're not important. We're the only two people in the world right now."

Marco didn't know if it was her words, her smile or her eyes, but Star had managed to somewhat settle his anxieties. Taking a deep breath, he nodded and returned her smile. They continued to walk down the hallway, and with every step Marco felt a little more calm. Soon enough he was ignoring the murmurs and the whispers entirely, just focusing on each footstep at a time.

He turned to Star again as she looked straight on, a small smile and a blush present on her face. The fact that she had successfully calmed down the nervous wreck that was Marco Diaz in a matter of seconds truly astounded the boy. _Man,_ he thought, as his face heated up a bit. _She is just … amazing._

Marco's appreciation of his wonderful girlfriend was cut short, however, by the sound of a very scratchy and unique voice.

" _Star!_ "

Both Star and Marco stopped in their tracks and turned around to find the source of this voice. They spotted a bespectacled girl behind them running towards the couple, with the obvious intention of catching them up. This girl, much like Star, had heart shaped marks on her cheeks, although whilst Star's looked luscious and refined, this girl's hearts appeared to be rather crudely drawn onto her face.

On closer inspection, one would notice many other similarities this girl shared with Star. While Star wore a red horn headband, this girl appeared to emulate that with a headband of her own, which sported two cardboard cones. Two straps ran around her arms, which held up a pair of fake fairy-looking type wings. Even the girl's eyes harboured the same wild excitement that Star's did, although in this girl, they seemed to be a little bit more … crazed.

StarFan13 skidded to a halt right in front of Star and Marco, almost jumping up in the air from exuberance. She sported a wild and massive grin, which Star returned with equal enthusiasm. "Hey, StarFan! How's it going, girl?"

"Amazing! Thanks Star!" she almost shouted, truly displaying her utter excitement. "I just wanted to show you this-"

StarFan, somehow, managed to interrupt herself with a very loud and very audible shriek. The staring onlookers around them began to place their hands over their ears, cringing at the shrill noise escaping the fangirl's mouth.

Said fangirl's eyes had apparently drifted down from Star's face to her hand, and she had seen who exactly was holding that hand. Marco winced as StarFan looked up and Marco, then quickly back at Star, and then back to Marco again. She raised a shaky index finger, pointing it accusingly at the couple.

She managed to speak in a trembling voice, "Are you-? Do you-? You two-?"

Star giggled at StarFan's obvious awe and anticipation. Marco even cracked a little smile, finding it somewhat nice that someone was in this sort of state over himself and Star.

Star smiled brightly at StarFan and nodded, "That's right, StarFan13! As of last night, myself and Marco are officially dating!"

That sent StarFan over the edge. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell backwards, collapsing on the floor with a loud _bang_.

Everyone, including Star and Marco, stared in shock at the unconscious form of StarFan13 stretched out ungracefully on the floor. Silence filled the entire corridor.

"Should we … should we do something?" Star asked Marco in a concerned whisper.

Marco just sighed, and proceeded to bend down and sling one of StarFan's arms around his neck. "Help me get her to the infirmary."

* * *

"Leave her with me," said the nurse, as she examined the passed out StarFan13 on the bed. "She will be fine."

Star let out a large breath, relieved that she hadn't caused any lasting injuries to her friend. "Okay! Thank you so much! C'mon, Marco!"

Star took Marco's hand yet again in order to lead him out of the infirmary. While the boy in question was certainly glad that StarFan would be alright, his mind was rather consumed with another thought. _What Star said to her … that we are dating…_

Marco thought on his girlfriend's words. It was not until she had said this that Marco had realised that he hadn't even asked Star out on a first date yet. It played on his mind, making him wonder what the right move was here. _I mean, we already know each other so well. First dates are usually for two people to get to know each other and see if they're a good match._ He looked over at Star's face. Her _gorgeous_ face. _I already know that we're a good match._

Even so, looking at the coolest girl he knew, his amazing girlfriend, Marco couldn't help but think one thing. _She deserves to be taken out and spoiled a bit. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do._

As they walked through the door and out of the infirmary, Marco spoke up. "Star, I was wondering if-"

" _Ahem_."

The duo whipped their heads around, and saw the source of this noise standing right in front of them. Right there in plain sight stood three figures. A beanie wearing girl, a rotund ginger boy and a bespectacled lanky lad. And all were sporting smug smirks, something that Marco didn't fail to take note of.

" _So_ ," drawled Janna, slinking behind Star and Marco and wrapping her arms around the pair of them. "Word in the hallway is that you two _lovebirds_ have finally decided to roost. This accurate?"

Star just looked in confusion at Janna, the metaphor clearly lost on her. Marco, however, knew all too well what Janna was getting at. He sighed as he gingerly picked up Janna's arm and dropped it from his shoulder. He straightened his figure, getting ready for this awkward exchange. Although now, because of Star, he felt a lot more confident in telling everyone the new truth.

"That's right, Janna." Marco said plainly, causing Janna's smirk to widen. "Me and Star are … well, we're together now. Boyfriend and girlfriend."

Star shot Marco a smile. She knew it wasn't easy for him to be this up front about everything, so she truly appreciated that he was doing all of this for her. Janna, on the other hand, let out an evil little laugh.

"Oh brother, who could have seen _this one_ coming, boys?" she said sarcastically, causing Ferguson and Alfonso to snigger. Marco rolled his eyes at his friends.

She then leant in to whisper to Marco, "Didn't think you had it in ya, lover boy."

Janna had always creeped Marco out, and this sort of close proximity was one of the things that made him cringe internally. He spun around and backed away from Janna, right into the pat on the shoulder given to him by his dear friend Ferguson.

"Not bad, not bad at all, Marco." he grinned, causing Marco to smile sheepishly. "Gotta say, I'm happy that you finally got your head sorted out and realised your feelings."

Alfonso nodded in agreement, giving the Latino boy a warm smile. Marco was surprised, but he felt touched that his friends were genuinely happy for him, and not just ribbing him with embarrassing comments.

It didn't last long, however. "So, Marco," began Alfonso, eyeing Marco devilishly. "Did you manage to sweep the princess off her feet at that ball thing?"

Marco groaned as Ferguson snorted with laughter. "Oh yeah, we've got a regular prince charming over here, Al."

The two boys snickered nefariously, leaving Marco to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Seriously, though," said Ferg, once the laughter had died out. "You've _got_ to fill us in, dude. We need the juicy deets."

Marco couldn't help but chuckle. _This isn't … so bad,_ he thought to himself. "I'll tell you guys _all_ about it when lunch rolls by. Class will be starting soon."

His two friends groaned in disappointment, but seemed to accept Marco's terms and conditions. Marco grinned, actually starting to look forward to the prospect of sharing the tale of his night with two of his close chums. _I guess it is a story for the logbook._

Meanwhile, Janna still had one of her arms snaked around Star's shoulder, and was staring at her cheekily. "Well then, Star. ' _Not going on a date_ ', huh? ' _Definitely pretend_ ', I think you said? ' _Only doing it to save your skin_ '?"

Star rolled her eyes at Janna's antics. "Yeah, yeah. I get the message, Janna."

Janna gave her another grin, which Star couldn't help but return. All of this attention circling her new relationship with Marco was making her feel even _more_ giddy about it all.

Janna poked Star in the chest, smirking all the while. "I won't say I told you so, Butterfly. But I will need you to tell me how you managed to bag yourself Mr Marco Diaz over there."

Star laughed, which made Janna in turn chuckle as well. "I'm serious, Star! How did you get together with him?"

"Get together with who?"

Five heads all simultaneously turned to face the direction of the voice. Stood just adjacent from the band of friends was a very pretty girl holding a skateboard by her side. She had platinum blonde hair with a subtle aqua streak running through it. Her eyes shon a neon green colour, and sparkled gently where the light hit them.

"So?" asked Jackie Lynn Thomas, looking at the sea of staring eyes around her. "Spill the beans. Who got together?"

Just about everyone except Jackie felt the awkwardness in the air, because they were all aware of Marco's crush on the skater girl. Former crush, they all hoped at least. Least of all Star.

Star looked awkwardly over at Marco. She thought he looked a bit shellshocked and lost for words, and she didn't know if that was good or bad. The princess still remembered back to the Ball of the Butterfly the previous night. What Marco had said about Jackie…

Star was no idiot. She knew feelings like that didn't just disappear completely overnight. But still, that fact made her feel no more comfortable with this situation. Marco was still wide eyed as ever, something that upset Star a little. _What is going through his head?_ The girl would pay top dollar to know that right now.

Somewhere, in the back of Star's mind, she found herself feeling a little bit afraid of what would happen next. _The way he is just … staring at her,_ Star thought, anxiety building up inside of her. _And who could blame him? She is so stunning…_

She was ashamed to admit that a small, very small, part of Star was afraid that Marco, now that he was looking at Jackie again, would realise that he liked her more than he could ever like Star.

"Uh, guys?" Jackie asked, who was starting to feel uncomfortable with all of the staring. "What's going on here?"

Star didn't want to have to be the one to tell Jackie about her and Marco. Not that Jackie had ever known about Marco's crush on her, far from it. But Star just felt awkward having to be the one to explain the situation, and she was slightly concerned that she wouldn't be able to keep her current emotions out of her voice.

But, as it looked like no one else was going to seize the role for themselves, Star took a deep breath. _Get it over with, Star._ "Ja-"

"Hey Jackie," came the voice of the last person Star was expecting to hear speak. She turned her head slowly around to see that Marco Diaz, her boyfriend, was speaking as calmly as ever to Jackie Lynn Thomas. Star could still see a bit of nervousness in his eyes, but the fact that he had managed to spit out two coherent words to the girl of his dreams astounded her.

She wasn't the only one shocked. Ferguson and Alfonso were rather wide eyed at this sight, surprised at Marco's forwardness. Even Janna's mouth hung slightly agape. The general consensus was a feeling of shock, something that Jackie luckily did not pick up on.

"To answer your question," continued Marco, as he walked over to Star. The princess jumped slightly at feeling his hand yet again grasp hers, the slow crawling warmth beginning to calm her previous anxieties. "Me and Star have recently become … y'know, boyfriend and girlfriend. Last n-night, actually."

Marco hoped nobody had noticed his small hiccup. While he knew for a fact that he was completely head over heels for Star now, speaking to his former crush was still a nerve-racking experience for him.

Jackie's eyes slightly widened at this news, before a big smile settled on her face. "That's awesome, you guys!" she said enthusiastically, looking at both Star and Marco happily. "I _knew_ you two would hit it off eventually."

Star and Marco returned the smile, both feeling calmer than before. "Thank you, Jackie." the pair said in unison, before their eyes darted over to each other. Thinking back to the Blood Moon Ball, they both stifled a giggle at this inside joke.

Suddenly, a sharp, harsh ringing sound emitted from all corners of the hallway, piercing every single student's eardrums. The six friends looked up to see the school bell vibrating noisily, signalling the five minute warning before the beginning of the first class of the day.

"Well, duty calls," declared Janna sullenly. "C'mon, Jackie. We have Physics to learn!"

The sarcastic enthusiasm was not lost on anyone. Jackie rolled her eyes before walking over to Janna's side. As the pair strode off, Jackie turned back around. "See you guys later! And congrats again, you two!"

She eyed Star and Marco as she said that last part, who both waved her goodbye, smiles unfaltering. Ferguson was the next to speak up.

"Speaking of which, Al and I need to hit up PE. Won't that be a doozy." he groaned as him and Alfonso walked in the opposite direction as the two girls. "Later, dudes."

"Bye, guys." said Alfonso, before turning back to Ferguson and muttering, "Seriously, how were we put in the same PE class…"

"See you around, boys." Marco said, before turning around to face Star. They were now the only two stood there, outside the infirmary. They smiled to each other.

"Well, I have Geography." Star said, playing with Marco's hand in her own. "I guess I better be-"

"Before you do," interrupted Marco, causing Star to look up at him in curiosity. "There was something I wanted to ask you."

Star nodded slowly. "Uh huh?" she asked, feeling a tiny pool of dread surface in her stomach. _Why do I feel like this is something bad…?_

Marco took a deep breath. "I was wondering if…" he began, and the princess braced herself.

"...if you wanted to go out on a date tonight?"

Star blinked. This had caught her off guard. "A … date?"

Marco nodded, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah, a date. I mean, we haven't really been on one yet, excluding the fake one at the Ball, of course. I just thought, y'know, since we are together now, we could go out on one."

It took Star a second to register what Marco was asking, something that he mistook for apprehension,

"I mean, if you don't want to-"

"No no!" exclaimed Star, the relief that Marco wasn't asking her anything damaging washing over her. She smiled brightly up at Marco. "I would _love_ to go on a date with you, Diaz."

Marco smiled back at his girlfriend, giving her hand yet another squeeze. "Awesome."

They stayed like that for a while, just getting lost in each other's eyes. In each other's smiles. It ended abruptly, however, when Marco remembered that the warning bell had sounded just moments ago.

He let go of Star's hand. "Listen, I've got to get to English. Don't want my perfect attendance record tarnished." He gave Star a small peck on the cheek, an action that sent chills down her spine.

"We'll talk later. See you soon, princess." he grinned, before sprinting off down the hallways en route to his classroom.

Star felt a little bit overwhelmed at that moment as she watched Marco speed away from her. The kiss coupled with the date proposal had left her feeling rather dazed. Soon enough, however, a stupid smile managed to find its way onto Star's face.

She sighed dreamily. _A real date with Marco? I hope today passes as quickly as possible._

While she was swooning, Star felt an unusual warm presence in her side. She found this odd, as situations like these usually left her feeling warm in the face, not the torso. She twisted her body to inspect the source of this, and found that her little star satchel bag was … glowing?

"Huh?" Star murmured curiously. Her usually yellow bag seemed to be, for some reason, emitting a glowing purple colour. Hesitantly, she zipped open the bag and grabbed the only thing she kept in there. Her wand.

Star brought the wand to her face, examining it carefully, feeling the subtle heat emitting off of it on her cheeks. The cleaved crystal in the middle of her wand was shining a dark purple colour, so bright that Star had to squint slightly. She looked into the half star with confusion, and saw her own reflection bouncing back at her, the usual yellow colour of her wand absent completely.

Star raised an eyebrow. "Hmm." she said quietly to herself, as she continued to look at her wand. "Well that's … different."

Before the princess could ponder this mystery any further, another sharp, loud ringing echoed through the hallway, signalling the start of first period. Star gasped slightly. _Oh shoot, I'm going to be late for class!_

Hurriedly stuffing her wand back into her star bag, the girl dashed off down the corridor to find her classroom, the odd purple glowing of her family wand, for now, forgotten.


	4. Chapter 4: The Date

**Hi everyone! Sorry that it has taken me so long to upload, but I have been crazy busy this past month. Hopefully I'll be able to upload more frequently now. As always, thanks to everyone for all the overwhelming support on this story, and I hope I can continue to please you all! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Date**

Star was nervous.

It was mid-evening in the quiet town of Echo Creek. Slowly but surely the oncoming dusk was creeping upon the sky above, and the faint outline of a crescent moon could be seen, if one were straining their eyes. The subtle sound of owls _hooing_ in the distance gave off a sort of tranquil atmosphere on this lazy evening. And yet Star was feeling the furthest from tranquil.

For what felt like the tenth time that night, Star wandered over to the mirror in her room and studied herself, eyes running up and down her slender figure. Judging her appearance. She was wearing a new dress that she had had made for her on Mewni, not too long ago. It was similar to her usual dresses. Designed in a similar fashion, with frills on the short sleeves. The colour, however, was quite different. It was a dark indigo blue colour, with hints of purple around the neck and on the edge of the sleeves. Around this dress hung a small satchel, light-purple in colour and in the shape of a heart.

Star ran her hand through the dress, caressing the fabric gently, staring at her reflection while doing so. She saw the uncomfortable, agitated look on her face, and winced. While she loved her new dress with all her heart, she was more concerned about the occasion she was first wearing it for. Star sighed. _I really hope Marco likes it._

She had no idea what her boyfriend had planned for their first _real_ date. All he had said was to dress casual but smart. Smart casual. Star groaned internally. _What does that even mean? Is this right?_

Along with her dress was another new feature of Star's appearance. She had tied up her long blonde hair into a magnificent ponytail that drooped almost as low to the ground as her usual hairstyle did. The princess squinted as she turned multiple times while facing her mirror, trying to decide if she liked it or not. _Or rather whether Marco will like it or not,_ she thought anxiously.

Even though she was dressed nowhere near as elegantly as she had been for the Ball of the Butterfly or the Blood Moon Ball, Star still wanted to look .. different. Different than usual, for Marco. The girl wanted to make sure she could keep appearing interesting for the Latino boy. Just incase…

 _Urgh._ Star sighed, walking away from her mirror to sit on her bed. She knew exactly _why_ she was so nervous for this date, and why she was trying to appear fresh for Marco. She remembered back to earlier that same day, at school, with Jackie Lynn Thomas…

 _Even though Marco was speaking to her with confidence, and even told her about him and me, he still seemed a little bit uneasy. Especially at first._ Star didn't know if she was being paranoid, and she didn't even know if him acting more confident around his ex-crush was a good or bad thing.

Star groaned out loud and closed her eyes, putting her hands to her face in frustration. She _knew_ she shouldn't be this worried about all of this. She was certain Marco felt the same way about her as she did about him. But after the Ball, her confidence and security had been knocked _way_ down. She had never experienced such a crushing feeling of heartbreak before. Star opened her eyes slowly, looking down at her blue boots. _And I really don't think I could handle it a second time…_

She rose suddenly, and strode over to her mirror yet again. She couldn't help herself. She just wanted to look just _right_ for Marco. Studying her mirror, a thought occurred to the princess. _Maybe I could call someone for a bit of friendly advice? Pony Head. perhaps? Or even Kelly?_

Star considered this newfound idea, but ultimately decided against it. She didn't really feel like spilling out all of her insecurity at that moment in time, even to her close friends. The truth was that Star felt a little bit _petty_ for feeling like this, and didn't really expect anyone else to understand her situation. _Not to mention,_ thought Star, as she frowned at her mirror, _I am pretty low on minutes. And I don't really want to go back to Pixtopia again._ She cringed at that memory.

Finally, Star decided to push these negative thoughts to the back of her mind. _Take a deep breath, Butterfly,_ the girl thought, as she followed her own instructions with a big gulp of air. _Don't let these pointless toxic worries ruin your first date with Marco. Just go down there, get lost in his dreamy brown eyes and have the time of your life._

A small smile appeared on Star's face, her mood starting to lift a bit at the thought of a romantic date with Marco. And while she had no idea what her boyfriend had planned for their special evening, she knew he wouldn't disappoint. _Anything would be great, as long as it was with him._

Taking yet another deep breath, Star stared into her own reflection's eyes in her mirror, a determined fire blazing in the sea of blue. _You got this, girl. Go down there and let Marco show you a good time Earth-style._

And with that, Star made her way over to her bedroom door. She picked up her wand from her dresser as she did so, slipping it into her small purple satchel. The princess was so focused on making tonight an evening to remember, she failed to notice the subtle glow of purple being emitted from the crystal.

* * *

As Star slowly made her way down the staircase, she was met with the object of her affections standing idly in the living room. Marco had his hands behind his back and was sporting a wide smile. Star studied him as she descended. He was wearing a checkered shirt and his usual black skinny jeans. _Smart but casual,_ Star thought, amused. Even though it was a small change, he still looked as handsome as ever, and she couldn't help but blush lightly.

Marco greeted her once she had arrived in the living room. "Hey," he said, grinning, to which Star returned. She noticed his eyes going up and down on her, and she nervously awaited the verdict.

"You look _really_ cute," he commented, which took Star slightly by surprise. Marco saw her face turn even redder, and he chuckled softly. " _Love_ the ponytail as well."

Star let out a shaky breath, a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. She grabbed her ponytail gently and started playing with it lightly. "You really like it?" she asked timidly.

Marco flashed her another smile that made the princess' knees slightly weak. "Of course! You never cease to amaze me, Star."

Star's blush was going nowhere, and she couldn't help but smile stupidly at her boyfriend's charm. Marco then gestured to her attire. "New dress?"

The princess nodded. "Had it made for me not too long ago," she said, while playfully giving a little twirl, most of her previous anxieties forgotten. "You like?"

Marco stared at her twirling, and felt his throat go a little bit dry. _Man, she is something else…_

"Y-Yeah, it l-looks g-great." Marco barely managed to get out, which made Star giggle.

" _Thank you_ , Marco," she replied in a sing-song voice, before prancing over to her boyfriend and ensnaring her hand with his. The warmth alone made her feel ten times better than she did previously, and she let out a little blissful sigh.

Marco squeezed her hand, a blush of his own starting to form on his face. "So, my _princess,_ are we all ready for our date?"

Star felt a little tingle in her chest when he called her ' _princess'_ , but she tried her hardest not to swoon like an idiot. _Not just yet._ "I sure am! But you gotta tell me what you have planned, Marco! I haven't seen you in _hours."_

The Latino boy just grinned, as he lead Star out of the living room and through the kitchen, much to her confusion. "I'll do one better, Star." He stopped with her just in front of the back door. "I'll show you."

Marco opened the backdoor and Star's eyes widened. Set out in the Diaz back garden was two chairs and a solitary table, decorated in a fancy scarlet tablecloth. On the table was a long candle placed in an elegant silver-looking candleholder, with two plates on either side. But that wasn't all. Surrounding the table was an array of rose petals, placed on the grass in the shape of a big heart. There were even long, large ribbons tied to the trees, adding an essence of elegance to the whole setting.

"So," Marco said, and even though Star was still gawking at the garden, she could hear the faint nervousness and anticipation in his voice. "Do you like it?"

Star was at a loss for words. She just gazed at the setting before her, mesmerised by it's ultimate beauty. She felt her face heating up, and all prior paranoid thoughts left her head completely. _I can't believe he did all of this … for me._

Before Marco could ask a second time, Star tackled him into a massive hug, causing the boy to stagger back slightly. She squeezed him as tight as she could as she felt an overwhelming sense of happiness and joy. "I love it." she whispered right into Marco's ear, causing a small shiver to creep its way down his spine.

She released him, and the pair gave each other a bright warm smile. Suddenly, Marco pulled a small remote out of his pocket and pressed it. A faint melody of slow, gentle harp music could be heard echoing throughout the house and into the garden. Star hummed to the tune, not taking her eyes off of her boyfriend.

Marco stepped outside and bowed a little, presenting his hand to his girlfriend. "May I escort you to our table, m'lady?" he asked her, putting on his best suave voice.

Star giggled once more at Marco's antics. "You're a dork," she said plainly, grinning all the while. But she took his hand regardless, and the young couple made their way over to their table to begin their very first official date.

* * *

"What can you see?"

Not so far away from the table, a slight rustling could be seen from the bushes of the garden. Hushed voices spoke in whispers as four pairs of eyes gazed at the scene before them.

"They're just making their way over to the table, stepping over all those rose petals." came one voice, obviously belonging to a girl. "Gosh, Marco is _such_ a cliche."

"Remind me again, Janna," came a second voice, sounding like it belonged to a male. "How exactly did you find a way to break into Marco's back garden?"

Janna stared dumbly at Ferguson, as if this was the stupidest thing she had ever been asked. She dug her hand into her pocket and fished out a ring of keys. "Don't you think I always come prepared with my handy Marco-Break-In kit?"

Ferguson just raised an eyebrow to Janna, clearly surprised at the extent Janna goes to in order to mess with Marco. " _That_ is disturbing."

"Will you two shut up?" came Alfonso's voice, which was thick with annoyance. "I can't hear a darn word they're saying to each other!"

The eyes all drifted back to the table. Marco was pulling out a chair for Star, who graciously sat down on it. Every eye squinted, making out that the couple's lips were moving. But they were straining to hear any of the actual conversation.

"Urgh, it's no good." grumbled Janna in annoyance, before turning to the crouched figure beside her. "Can _you_ make any of that out, Jackie?"

The girl in question, Jackie Lynn Thomas, just shook her head, her eyes still glued to Star and Marco. Janna sighed, and just went back to conversing with Ferguson and Alfonso. Jackie, however, didn't pay any mind to it, as she was experiencing something rather strange at that moment.

She didn't even know why she had agreed to come along to this. Janna had planned all this out, ever since Star had told her earlier that day that she was going on her first date with Marco. Ferguson and Alfonso had come in handy as well, as Marco had confided in them his romantic plans for the evening. Jackie had agreed to join them in their spying, as she was naturally curious about her friend's first date with someone that she had been paired with by just about everyone. But now that Jackie was actually here, watching the pair acting all lovey-dovey with each other, she found that it was not as fun as she thought it would be.

Jackie was perplexed. She had known Marco since they were kids, but the two had never really been close friends. In fact, Marco had always acted pretty reserved around her, which made Jackie think that he possibly wasn't interested in being her friend. So when she watched him staring longingly at Star, with Star returning the gaze, she was confused that she felt a small twang of annoyance growing in her chest.

The skater girl had never really thought much about Marco before. He had always just sort of been there, in the background, not saying much. But of course, ever since Star moved to Earth, he had really come out of his shell, and Jackie had started to notice a more confident side of Marco. Heck, she and him had even started to exchange some actual _words_ on several occasions, which was pretty new. But now, seeing him in his smart shirt and his charming demeanour, was enough to make Jackie slightly more interested in the boy.

Jackie shook her head, trying to wash those kind of thoughts out of her mind. _Don't be stupid, dude. You barely know the guy. Sure, he is really nice. And smart. And thoughtful. And he is pretty easy on the eyes, too. Oh, and he has that really cute mole on his-_

She stopped herself before her thoughts could continue. Jackie groaned, annoyed at herself that she was having these kind of thoughts about one of her good friend's new boyfriend. _Don't sweat it, Jackie,_ she thought cooly, attempting to compose herself. _Probably just some stupid teenage hormonal garbage. Don't read too much into it._

She shook the thoughts from out of her mind as she rejoined her friends, who were now staring intently in silence at the seated couple. Jackie stared too, interested to see how this date would play out, whilst trying to ignore to irking feeling at the back of her brain.

* * *

"Mom and Dad have gone out to see a movie or something," said Marco, making conversation across the table with Star. "So we have the evening to ourselves. Pretty romantic, huh?"

He sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, feigning the look of a relaxed bad boy. Star grinned at this. " _Definitely_ romantic. I bet you're glad that they're gone, _especially_ after this morning."

That caught Marco off guard, as he stumbled back in his chair and almost fell backwards onto the grass. He managed to stop himself from toppling over with his feet, but that didn't cause Star to be any less amused.

The princess snorted with laughter at a sheepish-looking Marco. "I'll say it again, Diaz. You are a _dork_."

Marco smiled, slightly embarrassed, but glad to see his girlfriend was enjoying the start of their date. He winked at her playfully. "You wouldn't have me _any_ other way."

Star chuckled yet again at this comment, and was about to retort in her usual flirtatious manner, when a certain strong aroma hit the girl straight in her nostrils. She sniffed up in the air, taking in a whiff of the delectable-smelling odour.

Marco noticed this, and smiled to himself smugly. "That, my dear princess, is the lamb I have cooking as we speak. It's an old recipe my grandpa used to make, and _oh boy_ it is out of this world."

Star only nodded, as she was still basking in the sweet smell of this mysterious lamb meal. "It smells _sooo_ good! I'm starving now, when will it be ready?"

At this, Marco frowned a little, and looked down slightly. "That's the annoying part. I've been slow cooking it for hours now, and it doesn't seem to be as well done as I had hoped. I can only hope that it gets there soon…" he trailed off slightly, a disappointed look etched across his face. "Sorry if this ruins the date at all, Star."

Star's heart shattered at the scene in front of her. She hated seeing Marco look so down. Instinctively, she reached over the table and grabbed his hand firmly, surprising Marco.

"Marco, you have gone to all this trouble for our first date. The decorations, the music, even the food! I am having a great time so far, and I am so grateful to you for doing all of this."

Marco looked up at his girlfriend, and slowly returned her smile. "Thanks, Star." He tightened his grip on her hand, not taking his eyes off her gorgeous baby blue ones. _How did I ever get so lucky to end up with a beauty like her?_

They had another one of their little moments of fondness, staring dreamily into each other's eyes and feeling the warmth of their locked hands spreading through their entire bodies. They both couldn't help but display small red blushes, a feeling of peace and happiness spilling into the atmosphere. It was not long, however, before Star returned to her usual excitable nature. "Besides, if it won't cook so fast, there are _definitely_ ways around that." She pulled out her wand cheekily.

It was only when her wand was out in the open that she noticed it yet again. That same purple glowing from earlier. Star frowned, examining her wand up close to her face.

"It was doing this at school today, too." she mumbled absentmindedly, studying her wand intently. "I have no idea why it is just randomly glowing purple all of a sudden. Weird, huh, Marco?"

She waited for his response, but it never came. Looking up and across the table, she saw a wide-eyed Marco glaring intently at the wand, a look of concern spread across his face.

 _That colour,_ Marco thought, as he stared into the depths of the wand's glowing half-star. _That glow. It's so … familiar._ Marco felt his entire body tense up at just the sight of this glowing purple, and the boy wasn't too sure why. All he knew was that when he looked into the crystal of the wand, into the pure _abyss_ of purple … he was afraid.

Marco continued to stare at the wand, and Star became concerned at Marco's uneasy behaviour. "Marco?" she asked softly. "Are you-?"

A sudden loud ringing noise catapulted both the teens out of the situation. Marco jumped up slightly, his gaze shifting from the wand back to Star. The girl in question fished around in her satchel and grabbed the source of the noise. Her mirror-phone.

She looked at the screen, and groaned in irritation. "Sorry, Marco. It's Mom, I've got to take this."

Marco just nodded slowly as Star got up and walked over to the other end of the garden, still pretty shook up at the intense feelings he had just experienced. Star had taken her glowing wand with her, which he was pretty grateful for. He let out a big breath, running his hand through his messy brown hair. _What was that? Why … why do I keep feeling like this?_

Star, meanwhile, flipped open her mirror-phone and was greeted with the image of her mother, Queen Moon Butterfly, who was looking slightly distressed.

"Sorry, Mom, can you call back? Me and Marco are kind of in the middle of-"

Moon cut her daughter off, "Never mind that now. Listen to me, Star." Her voice was stern and serious, more so than usual, which caught Star off guard.

"You _need_ to come to Mewni immediately, Star. Something very strange is happening and we need you here if we're ever going to get to the bottom of it." The Queen paused. "And bring your wand."

"My wand?" Star blinked, and looked over to the wand in her other hand, which was still a steady shade of purple. "Oh yeah! Something weird is happening with my wand, Mom. I thought about asking Glossaryck about it, but he's-"

"Glossaryck is here, Star." Moon interrupted again, surprising Star. "And he's told us about the wand. As I said, you need to come back home right now before something dangerous can happen."

Star rubbed the back of her neck with her wand sheepishly. "Yeahhh. See, the thing is, Mom, me and Marco are doing something sort of special at the moment, so I can't really just-"

" _Now_ , Star!" shouted Moon, and Star felt taken aback at her mother raising her voice. "The whole Magic High Commission is here with me. That is how serious this is. You need to come _now_."

Star knew her mother wouldn't get like this unless the situation was indeed serious, so the princess nodded firmly. "Alright, Mom. I'll just get Marco and-"

"Sorry, Star, but you're going to have to come alone."

This made Star raise an eyebrow. "Alone? How come?"

"Only members of the Royal Family and the Commission are going to be present at this meeting, Star. We need to keep it that way." The Queen pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Look, I'll explain it to you once you're here, can you just-"

Unfortunately, Star never got to hear the end of her mother's sentence, as right at that moment the call cut out. Star blinked in confusion, and then the image of a little blue pixie appeared on the screen.

"I'm sorry, but it seems you are out of minutes. If you wish you top up your credit, please visit our office in Pixtopia during opening hours."

Star groaned. "Are you kidding me? Right now?" She sighed and made her way back over to Marco, who had seemingly composed himself a little.

Star looked down at her feet sheepishly. "Marco, I'm _sooo_ sorry, but my mom really needs me to go back to Mewni ASAP. Something about Glossaryck and my wand, I don't know."

Marco blinked a few times before he realised what Star was saying. His previous feeling of dread was replaced with confusion. The boy frowned a little. "But … but what about our date? The lamb should be ready any moment now!"

The princess bit her lip. "I know, Marco, and like I said, I'm _really_ sorry. But this sounds urgent, and my mom will kill me if I blow her off."

Marco stared at Star for a few seconds, before slumping back into his chair, a mixture of hurt and annoyance gracing his face. He sighed. "Yeah, sure, I get it." he said quietly, not trying to hide his upset. "We can do all of this another time."

Star could hear the thick hurt in Marco's voice, which made her feel like the world's biggest jerk. "Marco, please don't be mad or upset. I'm only doing-"

"You should get going," Marco interrupted her, not sounding angry or sad, but just deflated. "Your mom said it was urgent."

The princess knew that she had hurt Marco's feelings, but she also knew that if she didn't hurry up and get back home, she would never hear the end of it from her mother. Star sighed, and stuffed her wand back into her satchel, not noticing that the once purple colour that had graced the crystal was suddenly slowly fading into nothingness.

She exchanged her wand for her dimensional scissors, and ripped a big blue hole into the fabric of reality. She stepped into it, turning round to face her dejected boyfriend. "I _promise_ I will make this up to you. See you soon, Marco."

Marco just nodded sullenly as Star walked through the portal, it closing up shortly after her. He let out a long sigh, and stood up slowly.

He picked up the candle out of the candlestick, and sadly blew out the flame. "Well, that's your first ever real date down the toilet, Diaz." Feeling a surge of annoyance, he chucked the candle fiercely to the end of the garden, momentarily letting his frustration get the better of him.

" _Owww_!"

Marco whizzed around to the source of the noise, and found himself staring at a rumbling bush. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. _I know that voice…_

"Ferguson?" Marco asked apprehensively, stepping closer to the bushes. He heard another voice, but this was a very feminine sigh.

"The jig is up, guys." came Janna's voice as she emerged bitterly from the bushes. Then Ferguson after her. Then Alfonso. And then finally, much to Marco's surprise, Jackie.

"Guys?" Marco asked, utterly perplexed at why his friends were hiding in his bushes. "What are you-?"

Before he could finish that inquiry, Marco heard the familiar sound of a portal being ripped into the air. This just added to Marco's confusion. _What is Star doing back so soon?_

"Back this early?" he asked in a surprised manner, as he turned around. "I didn't think you would-"

The sight before Marco made him choke on his words, because the person stood before him was not, in fact, Star, but instead a small little beaked creature accompanied by a bird, a spider, and a gaggle of rats.

"That's right," smirked Ludo evilly, pointing his glowing green wand in Marco's direction. "I'm _back_."


	5. Chapter 5: Garden Party

**Chapter 5: Garden Party**

" _Ludo_?" Marco exclaimed in shock, eyes widening at the sight before him. Out of the portal, right in Marco's back garden, stood his and Star's oldest nemesis. The bird man was flashing a look of pure evil, grinning with depravity. Surrounding him was a horde of huge rats, all bearing their sharp teeth in a menacing fashion.

To Ludo's side was his giant spider and bird, eyeing up the Latino boy as if he were some delicious prey just waiting to be consumed. These were two creatures that Marco and Star had encountered not too long ago, back when Glossaryck was trying to teach Star to take her magical studying more seriously. But Glossaryck wasn't here now. Marco gulped. _Neither is Star._

"That's right, Martin!" cackled Ludo, as he jumped atop Spider, seeming to struggle from the effort. He managed to claw his way on top of Spider's back, giving out a few exhausted pants. Marco looked at this scene awkwardly.

"Erm, actually, it's Marc-"

" _Silence_!" shouted Ludo, who had regained his posture and was now standing atop of Spider. With one swift motion, he shot a bolt of oozing green magic right in Marco's direction, which the boy narrowly managed to sidestep.

Marco looked at the patch of grass that the attack had hit, and saw that it was now little more than a smoking scorch mark. Immediately, Marco got into his karate stance, preparing himself for any other unprecedented assaults.

He heard a girlish scream from behind him. _Ferguson._ He suddenly remembered that he and Ludo were not alone. Without taking his eyes off of Ludo and his animals, Marco addressed his friends.

"Guys, get behind me!" he yelled, and his friends complied, some more hurriedly than others. Both Ferguson and Alfonso scurried from the bushes and crouched down behind Marco, whimpering and shaking all the while. Marco took note of this, and groaned. _How am I gonna take on Ludo as well as protect these knuckleheads?_

Janna and Jackie, however, emerged from their hiding spot a lot more slowly. While Jackie had an apprehensive look on her face, Janna sported a look that was more of slight amusement.

"Halloween ain't for a couple months yet, buddy," said Janna, folding her arms and smirking smugly. "And with an attitude like _that_ , I reckon you'll be getting more _tricks_ than treats."

Marco eyed Janna from the corner of his eye before looking back at Ludo, who growled in response to Janna's insult. Flashing his teeth in a malevolent sneer, the beaked monster pointed his wand in Janna's direction.

"You'll _pay_ for that, girl!" he yelled, and shot more green energy out of his pulsating wand. Janna flinched, and were it not for Jackie grabbing the trickster and pulling her down into a duck, the beam of magic would taken her head clean off.

Janna, who seemed a bit shellshocked, blinked her widened eyes a couple times. Then, she reached her hand up to her head and removed her beanie. Slowly, she brought the hat down to eye level, only to see that the top half of it hat been vaporized to a crisp.

Janna looked up at Ludo, with a glare that Marco could only describe as pure _wrath._ She instantly went to pounce for Ludo, which caused Jackie to spring into action yet again and grab Janna's arms in order to stop her. The little monster recoiled at this, causing him to fall off of Spider and land on the ground with a small _thud._

"Let me at him! _Let me at him_!" shouted Janna, as she tried to escape Jackie's grasp. "No one _ever_ touches my beanie, you got that, beak brain? When I'm through to you, they're gonna be serving you up on _Thanksgiving_!"

Jackie dug her heels into the ground, restraining her friend with all her earthly strength. "Janna, dude, calm down! That thing will tear you a new one!"

Janna wasn't disheartened, as she continued to struggle and bark insults in Ludo's direction, looking like a rabid rottweiler as she did so. Ferguson and Alfonso kept looking from Ludo to Janna and then back to Ludo again, obviously afraid of what was to come.

Ludo emerged atop of Spider yet again, rubbing his head angrily. He gave Janna a hate-filled glare before turning back to Marco, who was still holding his defensive stance.

"Enough of this," growled Ludo, pointing his wand at the Latino Marco. "Are you all _quite_ finished?"

Marco glared at Ludo attentively, a look of disgust in his brown eyes. "What do you _want_ , Ludo? In case you haven't noticed, you have a wand of your own now."

At this, Ludo smiled a truly wicked smile. He twiddled the wand in his hand idly. "Ah yes, _very_ observant, Malcolm. But something about my new wand doesn't feel very … _complete_."

He drawled the last word, his evil smile never fading. Marco raised an eyebrow, and Ludo continued.

"What I'm saying is, I'll be taking Star's wand right about now. _Where is it_?"

 _He's still after Star's wand? After all this time?_ Marco tried not to think about Ludo's rationale at this moment in time, and attempted to focus solely on the threat in front of him.

"Sorry to say, _Ludo_ , but Star isn't here right now." said Marco, smirking. "You'll have to drop by some other time."

This caught Ludo by surprise. "She's … she's not here?" His look of shock, however, soon turned to one of fury.

" _Where is she_?"

Marco shook his head. "Like I would ever tell _you_."

Ludo growled at this, his eyes narrowing. "Fine then," he said, "If you won't tell me, then I will just have to _beat_ it out of you! _Girls_!"

At the click of his fingers, Bird and Spider swooped into action. First Bird came soaring for Marco, her beak open in a menacing display. Both Ferguson and Alfonso jumped from behind Marco and out of the way, screaming all the while.

Bird was mere feet away from making a meal out of the Latino boy. As quick as a flash, Marco rolled backwards just as Bird was about to collide with him, causing her to fly over him. As he rolled back, Marco dealt out a striking kick upwards, smashing against Bird's neck. The giant beast choked on this attack, and passed straight over Marco before crashing into the ground behind him.

Marco barely had time to recover his stance before he saw Spider now charging at him, her master riding her. Ludo laughed maniacally, and began shooting bolts of green energy in Marco's direction. The boy jumped gracefully from spot to spot, dodging all of Ludo's attacks. As he spun, flipped and jumped out of the way, Marco made sure to get closer to Spider and Ludo at the same time with each leap. Soon enough, as he jumped out of the way of a deadly beam of magic, Marco was right in front of Spider.

Landing from his jump on his feet, Marco immediately ducked down as he hit the ground, and then proceeded to stick his leg out. He swept it along the grass, knocking a fair few of Spider's legs off of the ground. She squealed and began to topple backwards, with Ludo shouting curses as she did so. Marco grinned at his achievement, but it was short lived. For it seemed that Marco had forgotten, in his haste, that Spider was … well, a spider.

As the great arachnid fell backwards, she shot a small string of web from her rear end directly at Marco. The boy had no time to react, and the web shot hit him square in the face, sending him flying backwards. Marco felt his back smash again some hard surface, possibly a tree or a fence, and he groaned in pain. Opening his eyes to get ready to get back in the brawl, Marco realised something. The webbing was still covering his entire face. He had been _blinded_.

As Marco struggled to rip the webbing from his face, his friends were fending for themselves. For a short time, Ferguson and Alfonso had managed to run around the small rat army that was chasing them through the garden. However, due to Ferguson's large physique, he was tiring out rather quickly. Sweat dripping from his forehead, he began to slow down, breathing heavily all the while.

"Alfonso.." panted Ferguson, as he began to run slower and slower, "I don't … think I'm … gonna make it …"

Alfonso turned around to see his best friend had fallen behind. With the rats closing in, looking ready to rip them to shreds. Alfonso hurried back and grabbed Ferguson's arm, putting it around his own neck.

"C'mon, Ferg! You can do this!" gritted Alfonso, mustering up all the strength he could while trying to help Ferguson escape their vermin attackers. It seemed, however, that Ferguson was even more unfit than he looked. Ferguson couldn't keep going at Alfonso's speed, and Alfonso was just not strong enough to drag him to safety. Soon enough, the two friends were encircled by the rats, who all looked ready to pounce.

Alfonso panicked, looking around him at the rats in despair. "Oh no! _Oh no, oh no, oh no_!" He turned to Ferguson, who was still using him for support. "What the _heck_ do we do now, Ferg?"

But Ferguson, who looked completely depleted of energy, could only mumble quietly in response. "... so tired … need rest … just five minutes of …" he yawned loudly, " _sleep_."

Alfonso felt the weight of Ferguson on his shoulders start to increase, and he realised that Ferguson was slowly slouching more of his body on top of Alfonso. The bespectacled boy shook his head rapidly. " _No no no no no, Ferg_! Stay _awake_! Stay _focused_! Stay-"

Alfonso never got to finish that sentence, as all that escaped his mouth next was a shriek of horror. Ferguson came crashing down like a falling tower, a force so mighty that Alfonso was powerless against it. All the rats saw this and dashed out of the way, their previous predatory looks replaced with looks of fear. Alfonso abandoned ever trying to stop the ginger boy from falling, and made a hasty attempt to escape. He was even almost out of range, until-

 _THUD!_

Finally, Ferguson landed on the ground, and was snoring as loud as a foghorn. The only problem was that he was sleeping right on top of Alfonso's legs.

Alfonso screamed in pain as he banged his fists on the ground, shouting out every curse word under the sun. It seemed nothing, however, was going to wake Ferguson up from his deep and peaceful slumber.

Searing pain still spreading through his legs, Alfonso looked up in front of him, only to see that a few of the rats had reformed their circle, and were now grinning devilishly. If Alfonso hadn't have been yelling in agony at that moment, he would have gulped.

Meanwhile, the girls were in a predicament of their own. More of Ludo's rat army were continuously approaching them, sporting their threatening fangs. However, Janna and Jackie were adopting a slightly different method of dealing with them than Ferguson and Alfonso.

Janna, still in a blazing fury after Ludo burnt half her beanie, was just straight up booting each rat as it approached, sending them flying backwards.

"Take _that_ , you little dirtball!" yelled Janna, kicking a rat square in the chest as it jumped up to attack her. "This is what happens when you mess with a girl's _fashion_!"

Jackie, who was stood beside her, had grabbed her skateboard from the nearby bushes and was proceeding to whack each rat as it came near her. Although it was proving to be an effective method of keeping the vermin away from her, more and more just kept coming, filling the girl with an impending sense of being overwhelmed.

"Janna!" shouted Jackie, over the squeaks of the oncoming rats. He smacked another rat with her skateboard, sending it crashing down into the dirt. She turned to her friend. "We can't keep doing this, dude! There are too many of-"

 _WHACK!_

Something large and feathery came crashing into Jackie's side, sending her rocketing through the air and snapping her skateboard in two. The girl soared through the air until she landed with a _thud_ in the bushes, out of sight.

Janna watched this with wide eyes, and whirled around to find the source of her friend's attack. Sure enough, looming over her ominously was Bird, who gave out a sharp _cacaw_ , full of malice.

"You're gonna regret that, bird breath!" Janna growled, narrowing her eyes in anger. She arched her fist back, close her eyes tightly and swung an almighty punch in the direction of the great beast.

Her fist, however, was met with thin air. Janna opened her eyes in confusion, only to be met with the absence of her enemy. That confusion did not last long, however, as she felt herself being yanked by the scruff of her neck upwards and off of the ground.

Bird was hovering just a few feet from the ground, and had captured Janna in her large yellow beak. The girl struggled with all of her strength, trying to wriggle free from her ornithological imprisonment.

" _Hey_! Let me _go_ , you dumb bird! _Let go of me_!"

But it was to no avail. No matter how much the poor girl struggled against Bird, she just simply could not break free from her beak. Bird, seemingly annoyed at Janna's constant movement, proceeded to shake her head rapidly, causing Janna to flail around like a rag doll from side to side.

At last, Marco managed to claw his fingernails into the webbing around his face and rip it clean off of him, gritting his teeth as he did so. He blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to readjust. He realised that he was leant up against a tree after having a feel around behind him. After rubbing his eyes with his hands vigorously, Marco was able to somewhat see again. And the first thing he noticed unsettled him.

It seemed that both Ludo and Spider had recovered from Marco's sweep attack, and the pair were charging slowly towards him. Mustering up all of his effort, the boy managed to get up onto his feet and arch his fist back in preparation.

"I _don't_ think so." Ludo sneered, and in one brutal thrust, fired a blast of green magic towards Marco. Before he could react, the energy hit him right in his shoulder, singing his shirt and sending him crashing back into the tree. Marco yelled in pain, his shoulder searing from what felt like a deadly burn.

He looked up weakly to see that Ludo was towering above him, atop of Spider of course. Ludo narrowed his eyes, and when he spoke, there was pure venom in his voice.

"I'll ask again. _Where. Is. Star_?"

Marco gave out a feeble chuckle, and a little blood was coughed up onto his chin. Still, he looked at Ludo straight in his eyes and gave him an undefeated smile.

"Still not telling, Ludo." He gave a rough cough, more specs of blood spraying onto his slumped body. "Apologies."

Ludo growled with impatience. He gave a quick look behind him, to see how his minions were fairing. He saw his faithful rats surrounding Ferguson and Alfonso, and also Bird clasping at a struggling Janna. Watching Marco's defeated friends, an idea cropped its way into Ludo's head. An idea that made him grin evilly.

He turned back to Marco, the smirk never falling from his face. "Very well, Matthew. You win."

Marco eyed Ludo in confusion, before the bird man continued. "If you won't tell me where Star is, then I guess _she_ will just have to come and find _me_."

The Latino boy didn't follow. "What do you-?"

" _Girls_!" Ludo screeched, getting the attention of his cronies. "We're going home. And we're taking our _prizes_ with us."

Marco watched hopelessly as Bird swooped to Spider's side, still carrying a flailing Janna. Spider shot out another web, but this time in the direction of Ferguson and Alfonso. The pair were ensnared in a large web from head to toe, and Alfonso's cries of pain became muffled.

Ludo pulled out his dimensional scissors and ripped open a portal. His rats scurried back into it, abandoning the war-torn garden. Spider turned around, dragging the two boys along with him.

"Marco!" came a muffled yell from the web sack, sounding a lot like Alfonso. "Help us!"

" _Help_?" grunted Janna, as she tried to punch backwards at Bird. "I don't … need any … help!"

A helpless look of anguish settled itself on Marco's face, causing Ludo to cackle like a maniac. He turned around on top of Spider, who still faced the portal. He looked at Marco and grinned maliciously in victory.

"Thanks for the party favours, Maximus. But if you ever want to get them back, you will have to do something for me."

Ludo lowered his voice into a threatening growl. "Tell the princess that she has 24 hours to deliver me her wand on a silver platter. Or else..."

Ludo turned to look at Bird, who had a menacing look of hunger in her eyes. "Let's just say, they better taste like corn."

And with that, Ludo, Bird and Spider all made their way towards the swirling green portal in front of them. Even through the ringing in his ears, Marco could make out the cries and groans of his captured friends. The boy scowled in anger.

" _No_!" he wheezed, attempting to pick himself up from the ground. "You can't … I won't let-"

Almost instantly, Marco was knocked back down to the ground by a crushing blow from Spider's legs. Ludo shook his head, and as Bird and Spider retreated slowly back into the portal, he said one last thing to a crippled Marco.

"Remember, boy. 24 hours. Or they will _die_."

The band of monsters disappeared into the portal with Marco's friends, the portal closing up into nothingness soon after their departure. Marco strained to keep his eyes open, a look of pure pain and grief etched all across his face as he was sprawled out on the grass. He struggled with shaking arms to pick himself up off of the ground, before slumping backwards and slipping into a deep and harrowing unconsciousness.

* * *

 **This was the first fight scene I have written, so please, let me know what you thought! Any advice or criticism is welcome, as it could help for future chapters. Hint hint ;)**


	6. Chapter 6: Imprisonment

**A quick thanks to everyone again for all the support this story is getting! I want to thank robertkellett in particular for all of his amazing feedback, and I also strongly urge you to go and check out his own stories. I could name a few but he has so many good ones, don't know how he does it!**

 **Just to clear up any confusion, this story, along with it's predecessor '** _ **The Ball of the Butterfly**_ ' **, are both set before** **the events of Bon Bon. So in this SvtFoE universe that I am creating, everything that happens in Bon Bon and after never happens** **. Hope that clears things up, and hope you enjoy this next chapter! Sorry if it is kind of short, but I promise you that there will be some longer chapters in the not so distance future. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Imprisonment**

Castle Butterfly, standing magnificently and proudly in the centre of the Kingdom of Mewni, certainly did not look as magnificent as it did last night, Star observed. During the Ball of the Butterfly, the outside of the castle was decorated with amazing and beautiful ornamentation that would dazzle anybody who gazed upon its glory. Tonight, however, scaffolding climbed all walls of the enormous stronghold, where Mewmans of all shapes and sizes could be seen taking down all of the lights, banners and various other decorations. The light pour of rain didn't help either, adding a sort of depressing undertone to the whole scene.

Star stared at the workers, at them tearing down the myriad of colours that had been so alluring to her and, moreso, Marco. _It's so weird to think that the ball was only 24 hours ago,_ she thought, biting her wand as she gazed. _Feels like it has been weeks. Everything feels so … different now._

Thinking back to that night with Marco sent shivers down her spine, but it also made her feel even more guilty about this night. _He went to so much effort,_ thought Star, continuing to gnaw at her wand. _Seems we can't get just one perfect night without any drama. I hope he isn't too upset about me having to leave so suddenly … I hate seeing someone I care about so much feel so rotten …_

As Star allowed herself to feel bad for her boyfriend, she noticed that the wand lodged in her mouth had began to glow purple again. She flinched and quickly yanked it out, spitting multiple times on the floor in disgust.

When she had recovered from any anxiety over contracting some sort of purple magic disease, she frowned at her glowing wand. "I really shouldn't be doing that right now." she murmured out loud.

Star began walking up to the castle, letting herself drown in both the rain and her thoughts. It was becoming dark, and she didn't want to be stuck navigating her way to the castle in the pitch black of night. Her wand hung limply at her side, the purple as solid as ever. She disregarded the glow for now, as that was something she could discuss with her mother later. What she was _really_ worried about was how Marco would react to her just leaving.

 _What if he is mad at me?_ Star thought nervously, her grip tightening on her wand as she walked. _What if I have just ruined everything with him? What if …_

A picture of Jackie came into Star's mind, which instantly made her squeeze her eyes shut. _Can't think about that, Star. Can't let the paranoia take you over._

Star halted. She opened her eyes slightly, looking down at her feet. She was standing right in front of a puddle, and through the ripples of the rain she could see her own reflection. Star grimaced. _I look so … pathetic …_

The princess widened her eyes, and rubbed her hand up her forehead. _What am I doing?_ she thought incredulously, glaring at the paranoid mess that glared back at her in the puddle. _Since when was this me? Since when were my emotions this fragile?_

Star knew the answer to that. _Since last night …_ she looked up again, at the looming Castle Butterfly. Again she saw decoration after decoration being removed from the walls and the windows, from every nook and cranny. Star shut her eyes again and shook her head.

It was at this point that Star Butterfly became very confused.

She began walking again. Pondering to herself. Thinking about her situation. Thinking about Marco.

 _It's so strange,_ she thought, as she twiddled her purple wand through her fingers idly. _When I'm with Marco now, he makes me feel so happy, so complete. So safe and so appreciated._ Star closed her eyes again, sighing. _But … I also feel so unstable. So paranoid. So … weak._

The princess looked upwards to the grey clouds swarming the skies, and allowed herself to be pelted with the gentle rain drops. It felt refreshing. But Star Butterfly was anything but refreshed.

She allowed herself to think something that she had been imprisoning in the back of her mind.

"Is … is being with Marco good for me?"

"Who's Marco?"

Star shrieked, jumping out of her skin in surprise at the unexpected voice. She leapt back like a cougar, spinning around to face her possible assailant and pointed her wand strikingly in their direction.

Standing before her was a large blueish-green figure, who was wearing a purple cape that was damp from the rain. Where his head should have been, there was but a large shimmering crystal with a sole pupil staring out at Star. His hands, or rather his equivalent of, were in the form of snakes, which both displayed sly, slithering smiles.

"Oh, geez, Princess," said Rhombulus nervously, touching his two snake-hands together with anxiety. "I didn't mean to frighten you. You okay?"

It took Star more than a moment to register just who exactly this person was. Her mind had been slightly frazzled by all of her deep thinking being interrupted by a jumpscare. She looked at her outstretched arms clasping her wand for dear life. She was about to lower it, when she noticed something. The purple glow had completely faded, and the crystal of her wand was now solid yellow again.

 _Weird…_ Star thought, eyeing the tool in her hand suspiciously. _Does it just do that randomly, or-?_

" _Hey_! It's _rude_ to ignore an apology, y'know?"

Star looked up at a rather annoyed looking crystal-man, and then it finally clicked as to who he was.

"Wait a second … aren't you that Time-Out Guy?"

To this, Rhombulus crossed his snake arms and began to frown, as well as a giant crystal head can frown. "I can't believe Glossaryck managed to make that dumb nickname stick. Two times that happened!"

The princess saw that she had obviously offended Rhombulus, and hummed awkwardly. "Yeah, well, anyway I've got to be going to-" She paused. "Hey, wait, aren't you supposed to be at the Magic High Commission meeting?"

Almost instantly, Rhombulus' pupil seemed to dilate a fair bit. "Shoot! _That's_ what I was doing! Moon is _so_ gonna kill me!"

The giant crystal-man began to hurriedly speed walk past Star and up the path to the castle, before Star called him back.

"Hey, wait just a sec!" she shouted, over the rain. Rhombulus turned back around curiously.

Star cleared her throat. "I'm going to that meeting too, you know. And I'm sure if you turn up with her own _flesh and blood_ , the Queen won't even consider killing you." She grinned.

Rhombulus put his snake-hand under his chin, or lack thereof, and pondered what Star said. "You know, you're right!" he said finally, seeming to perk up. "Would you really do that for me, Princess?"

Star stifled a small laugh. _This guy clearly isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. But he seems harmless._ "Of course! It's no skin off my back. Plus, we're always safer in numbers." She gave Rhombulus a wink, to which he gave a loud but subtle chuckle.

And so the pair made their way together up the winding path, walking perhaps at a slower pace than they should have been. While they were nearer to the entrance of the castle, it was still a good walk, due to the vast enormity of the Butterfly grounds.

"So," Star began, as they continued on their stroll, "Why exactly are so you late to this meeting? Mom said that the entire Commission was there already."

Rhombulus rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, that. Had a bit of nasty business to deal with. Back in the Crystal Dimension."

This was a place Star was unfamiliar with. She had visited many vastly different dimensions in her fourteen years, and yet she had never heard of this one. "Crystal Dimension?"

The crystal-headed man nodded. "Yeah, I kinda run the show there. It's where all the most dangerous threats to Mewni are entrapped in giant forms of crystal."

Star nodded slowly, beginning to understand. "Oh, so like a prison? But wait, why not just dump them all in the castle dungeons?"

"Usually that's the case, for the occasional petty thief or bandit. But in my domain, things are a little different." Rhombulus' voice took a turn, sounding a lot more serious than before, which caught Star off guard. "The Crystal Dimension imprisons the worst of the worst. Murderers, war criminals, the truly unspeakable …"

Rhombulus trailed off, looking out into the distance as he walked. A small silence then ensued for a few seconds, which Star, due to her curious nature, decided to break.

"So … what was this nasty business you mentioned?"

Rhombulus looked at Star in surprise. She had obviously interrupted whatever train of thought he had been having. He replied, none the less. "We tracked down another war criminal. Gruesome monster, he put up one mess of a fight." Rhombulus shook his head, and it was only now that Star saw how exhausted he looked. He continued, "But, all of that is sorted now. He is encased in my crystal. And nothing can break my crystal."

He said the last part almost proudly. Now Star was engrossed in this story. "Wow, a war criminal? Mom never talks about the war with the monsters …" Star thought back to the tapestry she had seen when she had been inside of her wand. _Mom fighting Toffee like that … just what really happened all those years ago?_

"For good reason, Princess." Rhombulus said sadly, and from his tone Star knew she shouldn't pry further. But a spark of hope jolted back into his voice when he said, "But he isn't the first war criminal I have coated in crystal. Most of the generals from the monster army share the same fate." Rhombulus laughed coldly. "A mercy underserved, if you ask me. A group of the most depraved killers and psychopaths Mewni has ever seen, imprisoned for the rest of their days in my crystal … and they all served the _Lizard_."

Star couldn't contain herself at that moment. Ever since her trip into her wand, she had been eager to find out about the mysterious history surrounding this lizard-man, and she accidentally shouted, "You mean _Toffee_?"

The mention of this name seemed to ground Rhombulus, as he was catapulted out of his thoughts and right back into reality. His face contorted into a shocked, anxious look as he stared worriedly at Star's eager eyes.

"Oh shoot, I've already said too much!" yelled Rhombulus, slapping his snake-hand against his face. "Now you're Mom is _definitely_ gonna kill me. _Please_ don't tell her I told you any of that!"

The princess saw her opportunity, and she hastily took it. "I won't tell … as long as you tell me more about the war with Toffee." she said slyly, a smirk spreading across her face.

To this, Rhombulus looked enraged. "Oh, so now you're _blackmailing_ me? What kind of princess does that?"

"You should know, Time-Out Guy," said Star smugly, twirling her wand in her hand before blowing on it like a pistol. "I'm no _ordinary_ princess."

Rhombulus groaned, shifting his gaze from Star to Castle Butterfly, which was now miraculously right in front of them. It seemed their in depth conversation had done it's job and passed the time quickly.

He turned back to Star, looking peeved. "Look, some other time, alright? We need to get to this meeting before Queen Moon turns us into toads or something. Just promise me you'll keep your mouth shut about what I said, okay?"

Star considered the proposal. While she was very interested in hearing more about the war with the monsters, she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt at watching Rhombulus squirm uncomfortably. _I don't want to see this guy get encased in his own crystal just because he has a big mouth,_ she thought.

They were now at the front gates of Castle Butterfly, where Star had been not 24 hours previously. The guards gave a courteous bow, proceeding to open the huge wooden doors of the castle. As Star and Rhombulus began to head inside the enormous building, he gave one last look to her, awaiting her final answer.

In the end, the princess merely nodded. "Deal," she said with a smile, sticking out her hand to Rhombulus. The crystal man stuck out his snake-hand to meet Star's, and she instantly recoiled, shivering slightly. "On second thought, I'll take your word for it."

* * *

The room was pitch black, coated in darkness. And while it gave off the impression of vast emptiness, the room itself was anything but. Piles upon piles of random assorted objects were littered in all corners of the room, each reaching higher than the last. Unimaginable items, all imprisoned in this one room. There was everything from giant swords to unicycles, scattered in anarchy as far as the eye could see. And a small book.

Said book was laying innocently on the floor of the room, isolated from any other object. There was writing on the front cover, but even if there had been a pair of eyes in the room, they would have been unable to read what it said through the inescapable darkness. The book just resided there plainly. Untouched and unspoiled. At first.

There was a rustling in a nearby pile, smaller than most others. One or two objects slid down the pile and onto the floor due to this commotion. But there was one object in particular that escaped from this pile. A very small object, almost unnoticeable.

This object seemed to move on its own accord. A trick of the light, one might say, if there were indeed any light gracing the room. A trick of the darkness, perhaps.

Either way, it _crawled_. Crawled across the floor, across the room. Only a short journey, but for something this small, a hike of a lifetime. Time moved by and so did the object, slowly travelling towards its destination.

It arrived at the book eventually, it's crawling coming to a halt. There was no movement for a moment, as if these two random objects in this random room were sizing each other up. And then, the small object began to move again. It carefully caressed the pages of the book, flipping idly through the parchment at a slow pace, before squeezing itself between two pages in particular and disappearing completely, the book swallowing it whole.

The object had seemed to flick through the pages of the book with total ease. Almost like a finger.


	7. Chapter 7: A Tale of Two Teenagers

**Chapter 7: A Tale of Two Teenagers**

" _Marco."_

He heard it in the distance. Over the sound of the purple flames roaring all around him. Over the screaming.

" _Marco_."

He was there again. The field of fire. He could feel the heat from all sides, tearing away at his vulnerable skin. He could taste the filthy smoke wafting aggressively in the air, dangling at the back of his throat. He coughed.

He could smell the burning of flesh.

" _Marco_."

He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting his vision to the intense shine of purple. There it was again. The purple sun. The dark, purple sky. Everything. _Purple_.

And it _burned_.

" _Marco_."

That voice. A girl's voice, for sure. Where was it coming from? Who was it coming from? He couldn't be sure. He couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Existence was dead and life had been purged from reality.

There was only purple.

And then he heard something different. Something new, and yet something familiar. He heard it echo throughout his mind. The words. _Those words._ Mere words, vague and meaningless, and yet when he heard them be spoken, they became dangerous, and they became real.

And they sent him insane.

" **As it comes together, it falls apart."**

Screaming. Oh, the never ending screaming. It was all too real. It was all too painful.

" _Marco_."

That was him, wasn't it? He couldn't even remember anymore. But that was the only part of the new reality that didn't burn, that didn't _hurt_. A name. An identity.

He clung to it. To the name, to the voice, whatever you want to call it. But it was more than that. He clung to _hope_. And hope spoke back to him, panicked and afraid.

" _Marco_."

* * *

"Marco? _Marco_?!" yelled Jackie, shaking the lifeless boy on the burnt grass of the garden. He didn't respond. He just laid there, doing nothing. Being nothing.

The skater girl was not one to ever lose her cool, but this was something else. This was something surreal, out of the ordinary. She gulped, fighting back tears of fear as she arched her hand backwards, and brought it down on Marco's cheek in an almighty slap.

"Marco, wake up! _Please_ , you have to wake up!" she shouted, continuously shaking the boy. _Don't be dead, oh please lord, don't be dead!_ What could she do if he didn't wake up? How would she help her friends? She was just Jackie Lynn Thomas, skater to the stars. She didn't know anything about all of this inter-dimensional nonsense.

It had been several minutes since Jackie had emerged from the bushes, bruised and concussed. She had been at a complete loss for words upon seeing the aftermath of the battle with … _whoever_ that little monster was. It was like a war torn no-man's land. A pit of destruction. All the decorations were ripped and tattered. The table had somehow been snapped clean in half. The chairs weren't even anywhere in sight.

It had taken Jackie a minute or so to process the scene before her, as she nursed her sore head and pulled up her ripped t-shirt. Her mind was fuzzy, but the last thing she could remember was getting a faceful of feathers before being launched into something very hard. She had no idea how long she must have been out. But judging by how much darker it was now than it had been before, she guessed perhaps an hour or so.

Then she saw him. Slumped up against a charred tree. His smart-looking shirt burnt and scorched. Dried blood covering the bottom of his face, just below his mouth. Marco was laid there, unconscious. She hoped, at least.

She had rushed over to him, as fast as she could move with her bruised leg and swimming mind. Jackie had knelt down, had tried to wake him up, to get any sort of reaction out of him, to no avail. And with each shake, with each slap, with each tear, she was getting far more frightened that he just wasn't going to wake up.

But it wasn't just that that scared her. A few smacks into her attempts at waking Marco up, she had realised something. _If Marco is here, then … then where are the others? Janna, Alfonso and Ferguson?_ Jackie had felt the colour drain from her face as all the gruesome possibilities made their way into her mind. She shook them off, shuddering at the thought.

And so, here she was. Kneeling on the floor, hands grasping at Marco's ruined checkered shirt, trying to breathe some life into the motionless boy. Jackie screamed in frustration, banging her hand on the ground fiercely.

"Damn it, Marco, _fight_! I need your help! I need _you_!" Jackie shouted, her voice warbling from the lump at the back of her throat. She slapped him again. Once. Twice. Three times. Four.

Nothing. All he did was lay there, unmoving, not a care in the world. Jackie fell backwards onto her behind, allowing the tears the fall now. They streamed down her dirty face as she brought her knees to her chest and cuddled them, burying her face in them. It was hopeless.

She began to cry silently, not even having the energy to wail like a baby. The girl gritted her teeth, the futility of her current situation sinking in all around her. _What now?_ she thought in despair. _What can I possibly do now?_

Jackie sniffed, still covering her face in her legs. " _Please …_ " she managed to whimper. " _Marco_ …"

There was a groan. She was sure of it. She had definitely heard a groan. Her head shooting up from her knees with a look of shock, Jackie stared at Marco's form. He was now slightly stirring, his mouth moving slightly and she strained to hear what he said. He opened his eyes, both slowly and very slightly, squinting at Jackie.

"Urgh … Star?"

She didn't care. She didn't care that he had called her that. He was alive and they were not totally screwed. That was all that mattered. She rushed back over to him and engulfed him in a hug, letting out huge breaths of relief as she did so.

"Marco! Thank goodness you're okay! I thought … I th-thought …" she trailed off, not able to picture that whole scenario again. She felt his body tense up under her touch, and she remembered that he must be pretty hurt.

"Jackie?" came Marco's voice, the obvious confusion thick in it. That was enough to bring Jackie back to reality. All of a sudden, she remembered that she barely even _knew_ Marco, and yet here she was sobbing onto him while clinging onto him for dear life. A little red and embarrassed, she quickly released him, looking off to the side awkwardly.

Marco felt a little weird too. At one point, a big hug from his former crush would have been enough to heal all of his wounds and send him into a spluttering frenzy. At one point.

"Are you okay?" he asked, with genuine concern in his voice. Jackie looked back at him, and almost laughed in hysterics.

" _Me_? Am _I_ alright? Have you _seen_ yourself, Marco?"

Marco carefully crooked his neck downwards, and saw what she meant. He was rather battle damaged, with a fair amount of bruises and scars gracing his fragile body, He even spotted some blood spatter ingrained into this shirt.

The Latino boy's eyes were drawn to his shoulder, where his most severe wound resided. Any material from his shirt that covered that section of his body had been vapourized, and what was left was a rather large burn mark. Marco could feel it ache. _That was where Ludo hit me with his magic,_ Marco thought, biting down from the sting. Then his eyes slightly widened. _Ludo …_

"He has our friends," Marco stated abruptly, every word he spoke harming his insides even more. "Ludo took them. Ferguson, Janna and Alfonso."

Jackie opened her mouth slowly, the shock and fear evident on her face. She stuttered slightly when she spoke. "What are w-we gonna d-do, Marco?"

Marco looked away from Jackie and glared at all the devastation behind her. His back garden had been completely demolished in all of the fighting. He then looked back down at himself. At his broken body.

"It's obvious I can't take on Ludo by myself." Marco said, and Jackie thought she detected a bit of shame in his voice. "I need to … I need to find Star."

The boy tried to lift himself up, groaning as he did so. He felt any strength he possessed seep out of his body as he slumped back down to the ground. If Jackie hadn't caught him and softened the blow, he would have been facing another injury.

"You're hurt, dude. Like, really badly." Jackie said with worry, glancing at Marco's shoulder. "You can't just go wandering off by yourself into some other dimension."

Marco looked at Jackie, and the skater girl saw something she had never seen before. Marco _snarled_.

"What do you expect me to do, Jackie?" he said in a low, brooding voice which caught Jackie completely off guard. "Just sit about here and wait for Star to randomly show up? She comes and goes as she pleases, as you probably saw with our date."

Jackie could hear the contempt thick in Marco's voice. He continued. "Point is, Ludo said if we don't bring Star's wand to him within 24 hours, he is gonna …"

Marco trailed off, losing the disgusted look that graced his face earlier. He seemed to calm down as his face contorted into a look of anxiety. "I just need to get to Star as soon as possible." he said finally.

Jackie still had Marco's arm draped around her shoulder. She thought on his words carefully, and came to her decision. Slowly, she lifted Marco more upright, so that he was able to stand on his own two feet. At a steady rate, she began to guide Marco through the garden and in the direction of the house. Marco turned to look at Jackie in perplexity.

"Jackie?" he began, "What are you-?"

"You said you need to find Star," Jackie interrupted, her eyes glued to the house as she managed to support Marco's body. "But in your state, dude, you won't make it five yards without collapsing. I'll bring you to her, and we can fill her in on what went down together."

Marco widened his eyes slightly, surprised at Jackie's willingness to help. "Are you sure, Jackie? I mean, it might be dangerous." He paused. "Scratch that, it will _definitely_ be dangerous."

"Don't you worry about me, Marco." said Jackie, and she flashed him a grin that reminded him ever so slightly of Star. "Just tell me where to go, and we'll go there."

Marco nodded, returning the smile she had given him. "Thank you, Jackie." he said with sincerity. He then turned his head to face the house. Moreso the giant tower protruding out of the side of the house. "We'll need to get to Star's room. We can call her on her mirror."

Jackie gave him a little thumbs up with her free hand, and the two battle scarred kids slowly made their way into the house, leaving the battlefield of a garden behind them. Determined looks never left their faces as they walked lamely to the bedroom of Star Butterfly.

* * *

The council chambers of Castle Butterfly had always had intimidating undertones for Star, although she rarely went in there as a child. Like a lot of rooms in the castle, it was strictly off limits to her. Her mother had made sure of that.

But as she walked into the room with Rhombulus at her side, she couldn't help but experience a chill running down her spine. She gazed around at the all of the portraits of previous queens of Mewni, all staring lifelessly back at her through the paint, almost as if they were judging her. Star sighed slightly. _That will be me some day …_

The countless swords and shields that decorated the walls didn't look too inviting, either. Her father always used to tell her that every blade in this room told a story, each more heroic than the last. At the time she had been intrigued, but as she matured, she fully grasped the meaning of his words. These were the weapons that had, at one time or another, been coated in monster blood.

In the centre of the room was a rather large round table, hand crafted from the finest Mewnian trees from the Forest of Certain Death. And sat all around it was her mother, her father, and the rest of the Magic High Commission. They all looked up at the two late arrivals, sporting looks of mild concern.

"You're late," said Queen Moon, looking sternly at Star, who giggled nervously in response. Her gaze then shifted to Rhombulus. "Both of you."

Rhombulus shifted around on the spot awkwardly. "Sorry about that, Your Highness. I kinda got held up with work."

Moon sighed and shook her head in exhaustion, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so. "Never mind, you're here now. Star, Rhombulus, take a seat."

They both complied. As she walked over, the princess reached behind her and took the bobble out of her slightly wet ponytail, letting her long golden hair fall down freely.

Slipping into their chairs at the table, Star took this moment to look around her. There was, of course, her dad, King River, who smiled and gave a little wave to his daughter. Even though Star returned the greeting, she found this rather odd, as her dad usually said hello with a crushing bear hug or some other exuberant form of affection. Star frowned. _Just what exactly is going on here?_

The other three seats were taken up by none other than the three remaining members of the Magic High Commission. Rhombulus took his seat next to High Chancellor Lekmet, a very old and very wise man who just happened to have the appearance of a goat. While no one but Rhombulus could ever understand what he was saying, or so Rhombulus claimed, he definitely had an aura of authority and power about him. He sat there quietly, his eyes looking more tired than usual.

Beside him was, of course, Hekapoo, the Scissors Enforcer and forger of the dimensional scissors. She was folding her arms and looked to be in a foul mood. Star had always admired Hekapoo's laid back attitude and overzealous confidence, and thought that if she had been Star's age, the two would have made the best of friends. She had also heard some horrific stories about the trials Hekapoo enforces upon people who think themselves worthy of wielding a pair of dimensional scissors. The princess gulped, subtly shoving her own scissors deeper into her bag. She still had no idea how Pony Head managed to get a hold of the scissors, which is what scared her.

Omnitraxus Prime was not in a chair, unlike the others. He resided in his magical-looking orb which was resting peacefully on a little table with wheels. The Master of Space-Time was both a mysterious and powerful entity, one that could probably change the whole fabric reality in a heartbeat. For Star, it was hard to tell what emotions he was conveying, as his face wasn't one that gave off much expression. All she could see was a tiny skull floating around inside a weird looking glass sphere.

Star looked around the table once more, before turning her eyes on her mother again. Raising an eyebrow, Star asked the question she had been wanting to ask since Moon had called her.

"Alright, Mom. Just what is this little meeting all about?"

Moon opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately interrupted by another familiar face. One that appeared in the centre of the table in a poof of blue smoke.

"I think I can answer that, Princess." announced Glossaryck, giving a courteous little bow to Star as he appeared. His sudden appearance made Star recoil slightly in shock, but seeing that her magic tutor was alive and well made her sigh a little in relief.

"Glossaryck, where have you _been_?" Star asked, bewilderment evident in her tone. "I've been looking for you all day."

"I'm afraid Glossaryck has some troubling news, Star." Moon said gravely, and all eyes turned to her. "It seems he has located the other cleaved half of your wand."

Star's eyes widened. "My _wand_? How is that bad news?"

She heard a scoff, and turned her attention to Hekapoo, who was sporting a sour look. "Just wait until you hear _where_ he found it, Princess."

Glossaryck cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, well, erm, about that." Star stared at him impatiently, awaiting this revelation. Glossaryck sighed. "Okay, Star. Ludo has it."

"Ludo?" The first thought that zoomed through Star's mind was utter confusion. _Ludo? My wand? How did that happen? That doesn't make any-_

"Wait a second," said Star slowly, the memory of her most recent fight with Ludo creeping back into her head. "Ludo's new wand is _my_ wand?"

Glossaryck pointed a finger gun at Star. "Bingo, kid. Ludo somehow managed to get his hands on half of the most powerful object in the multiverse. Ain't that a kicker?"

Star slunked back into her chair, processing this new information in her mind. Then something popped into her head. She dug around in her satchel bag, carefully remembering not to let her scissors fall to the ground or anything.

"Do you think that it has anything to do with _this_?" Star placed her wand on the table, which had begun glowing purple again. All eyes shifted to the intense dark shine of the crystal, and even Lekmet gave out a shrill little ' _Baaaa_!'

"Yes, pumpkin, Glossaryck told us about this strange glowing nonsense." piped up River, staring accusingly at the wand. "He said that the other half of the wand is doing it as well. The cold hard truth is … we don't know what it means."

Star frowned, looking over to her mother, who just shook her head sadly. "For all we know, it could be connected. And I get the feeling that _someone_ ," she stared irritatedly at Glossaryck, "isn't telling us the full story here."

Glossaryck whistled idly, checking his fingernails for dirt. "If I told you everything I knew, Moon, then it would _really_ devalue the whole experience. Just let it _all_ unfold."

Moon groaned with annoyance, and she wasn't the only one. Rhombulus began to angrily eye up the little blue man. "I'm getting really sick and tired of all this cryptic garbage, Glossaryck. Why can't you just be helpful, for once?"

While Rhombulus looked like he may pop a blood vessel, Glossaryck looked completely uninterested. He gave the crystal man a bored look. "Do you really need another time out again, Rhomby?"

At this, Hekapoo couldn't contain herself, and despite the serious situation and her mood, let out a little snicker. Rhombulus looked like he was about to take Glossaryck's bait, before Moon stood up abruptly.

" _Silence_!" she commanded in annoyance, and the room fell deathly quiet. Moon sat back down again, and cleared her throat. "We need to get back to the matter at hand. Ludo and this odd business with the wand."

"May I see the wand, Princess?" asked Omnitraxus politely. Star nodded, and slid the wand across the table in his direction. It came to a slow halt just in front of his orb.

Omintraxus spent a good few moments studying the purple glare intently, watching the glowing half-star with intense interest. After a while, he just merely looked up and sighed.

"I'm afraid I can only give half an answer as to what this is." he said regrettably, and Star leant forward in her seat, eager to hear what the Master of Space-Time had deduced.

Omnitraxus cleared his throat. "Your wand is harboring quite the intense build up of … magical energy. Where this magic came from, or what its purpose is, I cannot say. But what I _can_ tell you is that this energy is extremely unstable and, by the looks of it, dangerous. If it were to be released … I can't say whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing, but my money's on bad. The fact that the wand isn't whole as of now seems to be the only thing stopping that from happening."

Star slowly nodded along to his explanation. Her head was swimming slightly from all of this new information, and she felt she had more questions than she had begun with. "So _why_ is this happening now? Why is my wand all of a sudden glowing purple at completely random moments?"

Omnitraxus shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know that either, Princess. But _something_ has definitely triggered all of this."

Hekapoo scoffed. "That isn't important right now. What _is_ important is making sure Ludo doesn't get his hands on this half of the wand. While he is a little creep at best, who knows what all of that unadulterated magical energy will do for him."

Moon nodded. "Hekapoo is right. That is why I called you here, Star. Not only do we need to keep the wand safe and with us, but we need to know more about Ludo. From what I've come to understand, he is somewhat of a foe to you."

It was Star's turn to scoff. "That's putting it mildly, Mom."

"At any rate," Moon continued, looking at Star sternly, "We don't know a whole lot about Ludo. We're going to need you to tell us all you know about him before we decide to do anything rash. When you have concluded and the Commission has reached a decision, _we_ shall go and deal with him."

Star looked up at her mother, frowning in confusion. "Wait, what about me?"

The Queen sighed, and River looked at his daughter solemnly. "We need to keep the wand as far away from Ludo as we can, Star. We simply cannot risk him getting his hands on it. You will have to stay behind."

The princess took this as a personal insult, and was ready to express her outrage. "But-"

" _Enough_ , Star!" Moon yelled, and the seriousness of her tone made Star stop in her tracks. "We are dealing with something that none of us truly understand here. We need to deal with this very delicately, and right now the best way you can be of any help is by telling us more about Ludo." The Queen coughed, intertwining her fingers and looking sternly at Star. "So _tell_."

* * *

"I'm sorry, but it seems you are out of minutes. If you wish you top up your credit, please visit our office in Pixtopia during opening hours."

Marco groaned, scowling at the pixie on Star's magical mirror. He had regained some of his strength, and was able to at least stand and move around by himself now. But that didn't mean the pain and discomfort was any less prevalent.

"For goodness sake," he grumbled, while Jackie watched nervously from behind him. Marco had slipped on one of his hoodies over his tattered shirt, both to cover up his ruined clothes and his wounds.

Jackie bit her fingernails. "No success?"

Marco shook his head, looking severely frustrated. "Seems like Star has forgotten to top up her minutes. We have no way of contacting her." Marco moved slowly over to Star's bed, sitting himself down The Latino boy looked down at the floor in defeat.

Jackie's facial expression saddened. She did not like seeing Marco so downtrodden. "Hey, don't give up so easily, dude." She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Marco. "You're like, the smartest kid in school. You'll figure something out."

Marco couldn't help but smile a bit at Jackie's attempt to cheer him up. "Thanks, Jackie." he said, looking up at her somberly. "But our friends really need our help, and there is literally no way we can help them. No dimensional scissors or anything. No Glossaryck, either. We're stuck here on Earth." He gave out a sigh.

Jackie looked down at her feet, trying to think of a solution to their problem. She tugged on her ripped shirt a little bit, the torn material rough against her bruised skin. Marco noticed this.

"Here," she heard him say, and when she turned around, he was presenting her a neatly folded hoodie. She looked at it and then back up at him in confusion.

"It feels a lot better with one of these babies on. Trust me." Marco said kindly. Jackie blushed ever so slightly, but graciously accepted the hoodie anyway, slipping it on over her head.

It was back to the chopping board, with the two teens trying with all of their brainpower to figure something out. The skater girl tried again, this time with a little desperation in her voice. "But … but Star can use magic and all that stuff! Surely isn't there a way for her to … I dunno, contact you telepathically or something. Maybe appear out of thin air back here to help us?"

If the situation hadn't have been so dire, Marco would have laughed. Instead he gave Jackie a small smile. "That's not really how it works, Jackie. Nice try though." She returned his smile, before the two looked away from each other and back down at their feet. "Besides, Star's magic isn't always for the best."

Jackie looked over at him curiously. "How so?"

"Oh boy, where to begin." Marco thought with slight amusement. He was a little ashamed to admit that this little distraction from their totally screwed situation was actually welcome. "Well, there was this one time Star accidentally turned my entire arm into this monster tentacle thing."

"I remember that!" said Jackie, pointing at Marco's arm as she spoke. "You came to school a few times with that thing. I remember thinking it looked pretty rad."

Marco gave a small chuckle, remembering himself how excited he had been when the one and only Jackie Lynn Thomas had thought his new appendage was cool.

"Yep," he said quietly, running his hand over his right arm softly, thinking back to what a crazy experience that had been. "I mean, in the end the Monster Arm did try and murder me, along with like, several other people. Wasn't the most fun."

Jackie laughed, looking at the now normal arm. "Wow. Can't say I've ever had a disagreement with one of my limbs before, except when choking on skate moves of course. That must have been _hell_."

The Latino boy smiled. "Oh yeah, it really was. I remember when-"

Marco paused suddenly, a small frown forming on his face. Jackie looked at him expectantly, waiting to hear the rest of the story. Before she could prompt him, however, he spoke.

"Jackie," Marco said slowly, looking as if to be in deep thought. "What did you just say?"

Jackie blinked, looking at Marco with a confused expression. "What, about disagreeing with my limbs?"

Marco shook his head rapidly. "No no, after that."

"Choking on skate moves?"

" _After_ that, Jackie!"

Jackie paused for a second, trying to rack her memory. The answer soon came to her. "Oh! You mean when I said that that Monster Arm thing must have put you through hell?"

Marco shot up all of a sudden, startling an unexpecting Jackie. The boy, however, looked about as excitable as possible. He was almost jumping for joy, which was a significant change in his demeanour.

"That's it! Jackie, you're a genius!" he yelled in triumph, smiling widely at a perplexed Jackie.

"I don't follow, dude." she said plainly.

Marco looked her straight in the eyes and grinned. "You said it yourself! _Hell_! Well, not Hell exactly, but close enough."

And with that, Marco bolted across the room, all the way over to Star's secrets closet. Jackie stared at him as he swung the door open and dove inside, still having no idea what he was on about.

Inside the closet, Marco was fumbling around frantically, digging through the piles of Star's many assorted objects and treasures. One by one he fished out some random weapon or pulsating magical item, throwing it behind him as he kept on searching.

"C'mon. Where is it, where is it ..." he mumbled in annoyance, flinging Star's unicycle across the room in his haste. As the boy continued to dig at an alarming rate, something in the pile caught his eye. Marco frowned, as he cleared away a few objects before getting a better look.

It was a book. A familiar looking book, at that. Carefully, Marco picked it up and brought it to eye level, squinting at the text on the front cover.

"Star's journal?" he said quietly, to no one in particular. He just held the book in his hands, studying every inch of the fine craftsmanship.

He didn't know what it was. Curiosity, insecurity, or something else. But he felt himself really wanting to _read_ his girlfriend's diary. He knew he shouldn't. _This is Star's private journal,_ he thought carefully. _I can't just invade her privacy and read it. What sort of boyfriend would I be then?_

But even so, _something_ deep inside Marco was urging him to open up the journal and read it. The boy couldn't explain it, but he felt as if he truly needed to see what was kept inside. Slowly and shamefully, Marco found himself opening up Star's journal, against his better judgement. He began to read.

After reading through the most recent entry for a while, Marco's roaming eyes stopped dead in their tracks. Then they widened. Then they blinked. His mouth began to hang slightly agape, and a small frown formed itself on his face.

"No …" Marco said slowly, rereading what he had just read. And again. And again. "She can't … she _hasn't_ …"

It was no use. No matter how many times he read the same few lines, the words didn't change. He just stood there in silence for a while, the book in his hands and a shocked and hurt expression on his face.

Then, abruptly, he slammed the book shut. Marco brought the small diary to his chest, and tucked it carefully inside his hoodie. A bitter scowl never left his face the whole time. He sighed, closing his eyes and looking down.

When his eyes finally reopened, he saw what he had been looking for. There it was, sitting peacefully on the floor, surrounded by Star's various trinkets. Bending his knees and crouching down slowly, he carefully picked up the object, or rather _objects_ , that were going to help him on his mission to rescue his friends.

A tiny little black and red bell, along with a tiny little black and red hammer.


End file.
